Hedgehog stimulates maturation of Cubitus interruptus into a labile transcriptional activator - PubMed (original) (raw)

. 1998 Dec;396(6713):749-53.

doi: 10.1038/25533.

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Hedgehog stimulates maturation of Cubitus interruptus into a labile transcriptional activator

J T Ohlmeyer et al. Nature. 1998 Dec.

Abstract

In Drosophila, signalling by the protein Hedgehog (Hh) alters the activity of the transcription factor Cubitus interruptus (Ci) by inhibiting the proteolysis of full-length Ci (Ci-155) to its shortened Ci-75 form. Ci-75 is found largely in the nucleus and is thought to be a transcriptional repressor, whereas there is evidence to indicate that Ci-155 may be a transcriptional activator. However, Ci-155 is detected only in the cytoplasm, where it is associated with the protein kinase Fused (Fu), with Suppressor of Fused (Su(fu)), and with the microtubule-binding protein Costal-2. It is not clear how Ci-155 might become a nuclear activator. We show here that mutations in Su(fu) cause an increase in the expression of Hh-target genes in a dose-dependent manner while simultaneously reducing Ci-155 concentration by some mechanism other than proteolysis to Ci-75. Conversely, eliminating Fu kinase activity reduces Hh-target gene expression while increasing Ci-155 concentration. We propose that Fu kinase activity is required for Hh to stimulate the maturation of Ci-155 into a short-lived nuclear transcriptional activator and that Su(fu) opposes this maturation step through a stoichiometric interaction with Ci-155.

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