Epigenetic regulation of thyroid hormone-induced adult intestinal stem cell development during anuran metamorphosis.
Epigenetic modifications of histones are emerging as key factors in gene regulation by diverse transcription factors. Their roles during vertebrate development and pathogenesis are less clear. The causative effect of thyroid hormone (T3) on amphibian metamorphosis and the ability to manipulate this process for molecular and genetic studies have led to the demonstration that T3 receptor (TR) is necessary and sufficient for Xenopus metamorphosis, a process that resembles the postembryonic development (around birth) in mammals. Importantly, analyses during metamorphosis have provided some of the first in vivo evidence for the involvement of histone modifications in gene regulation by TR during vertebrate development. Furthermore, expression and functional studies suggest that various histone modifying epigenetic enzymes likely participate in multiple steps during the formation of adult intestinal stem cells during metamorphosis. The similarity between intestinal remodeling and the maturation of the mammalian intestine around birth when T3 levels are high suggests conserved roles for the epigenetic enzymes in mammalian adult intestinal stem cell development and/or proliferation.
School of Basic Medical Sciences, Wuhan University, Wuhan, 430072 P.R. China.
Guihong
G
Sun
Section on Molecular Morphogenesis, Program in Cellular Regulation and Metabolism (PCRM), Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH), 18 Library Dr, Bethesda, Maryland 20892 USA.
Liezhen
L
Fu
Section on Molecular Morphogenesis, Program in Cellular Regulation and Metabolism (PCRM), Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development (NICHD), National Institutes of Health (NIH), 18 Library Dr, Bethesda, Maryland 20892 USA.
Yun-Bo
YB
Shi
Histone acetylation; Histone methylation; Intestine; Metamorphosis; Stem cell; Thyroid hormone receptor; Xenopus laevis and tropicalis