Cleavage of TFIIA by Taspase1 activates TRF2-specified mammalian male germ cell programs. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • The evolution of tissue-specific general transcription factors (GTFs), such as testis-specific TBP-related factor 2 (TRF2), enables the spatiotemporal expression of highly specialized genetic programs. Taspase1 is a protease that cleaves nuclear factors MLL1, MLL2, TFIIAα-β, and ALFα-β (TFIIAτ). Here, we demonstrate that Taspase1-mediated processing of TFIIAα-β drives mammalian spermatogenesis. Both Taspase1(-/-) and noncleavable TFIIAα-βnc/nc testes release immature germ cells with impaired transcription of Transition proteins (Tnp) and Protamines (Prm), exhibiting chromatin compaction defects and recapitulating those observed with TRF2(-/-) testes. Although the unprocessed TFIIA still complexes with TRF2, this complex is impaired in targeting and thus activating Tnp1 and Prm1 promoters. The current study presents a paradigm in which a protease (Taspase1) cleaves a ubiquitously expressed GTF (TFIIA) to enable tissue-specific (testis) transcription, meeting the demand for sophisticated regulation of distinct subsets of genes in higher organisms.

publication date

  • October 28, 2013

Research

keywords

  • Endopeptidases
  • Spermatogenesis
  • Telomeric Repeat Binding Protein 2
  • Transcription Factor TFIIA

Identity

PubMed Central ID

  • PMC3947863

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 84886632946

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1016/j.devcel.2013.09.025

PubMed ID

  • 24176642

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 27

issue

  • 2