Steroid hormone control of cell death and cell survival: molecular insights using RNAi.

The insect steroid hormone ecdysone triggers programmed cell death of obsolete larval tissues during metamorphosis and provides a model system for understanding steroid hormone control of cell death and cell survival. Previous genome-wide expression studies of Drosophila larval salivary glands resul...

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Main Authors: Suganthi Chittaranjan, Melissa McConechy, Ying-Chen Claire Hou, J Douglas Freeman, Lindsay Devorkin, Sharon M Gorski
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Public Library of Science (PLoS) 2009-02-01
Series:PLoS Genetics
Online Access:https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1000379&type=printable
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author Suganthi Chittaranjan
Melissa McConechy
Ying-Chen Claire Hou
J Douglas Freeman
Lindsay Devorkin
Sharon M Gorski
author_facet Suganthi Chittaranjan
Melissa McConechy
Ying-Chen Claire Hou
J Douglas Freeman
Lindsay Devorkin
Sharon M Gorski
author_sort Suganthi Chittaranjan
collection DOAJ
description The insect steroid hormone ecdysone triggers programmed cell death of obsolete larval tissues during metamorphosis and provides a model system for understanding steroid hormone control of cell death and cell survival. Previous genome-wide expression studies of Drosophila larval salivary glands resulted in the identification of many genes associated with ecdysone-induced cell death and cell survival, but functional verification was lacking. In this study, we test functionally 460 of these genes using RNA interference in ecdysone-treated Drosophila l(2)mbn cells. Cell viability, cell morphology, cell proliferation, and apoptosis assays confirmed the effects of known genes and additionally resulted in the identification of six new pro-death related genes, including sorting nexin-like gene SH3PX1 and Sox box protein Sox14, and 18 new pro-survival genes. Identified genes were further characterized to determine their ecdysone dependency and potential function in cell death regulation. We found that the pro-survival function of five genes (Ras85D, Cp1, CG13784, CG32016, and CG33087), was dependent on ecdysone signaling. The TUNEL assay revealed an additional two genes (Kap-alpha3 and Smr) with an ecdysone-dependent cell survival function that was associated with reduced cell death. In vitro, Sox14 RNAi reduced the percentage of TUNEL-positive l(2)mbn cells (p<0.05) following ecdysone treatment, and Sox14 overexpression was sufficient to induce apoptosis. In vivo analyses of Sox14-RNAi animals revealed multiple phenotypes characteristic of aberrant or reduced ecdysone signaling, including defects in larval midgut and salivary gland destruction. These studies identify Sox14 as a positive regulator of ecdysone-mediated cell death and provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the ecdysone signaling network governing cell death and cell survival.
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spelling doaj-art-9bda632a31ad42d38f789bcacfbcaff02025-08-20T02:17:24ZengPublic Library of Science (PLoS)PLoS Genetics1553-73901553-74042009-02-0152e100037910.1371/journal.pgen.1000379Steroid hormone control of cell death and cell survival: molecular insights using RNAi.Suganthi ChittaranjanMelissa McConechyYing-Chen Claire HouJ Douglas FreemanLindsay DevorkinSharon M GorskiThe insect steroid hormone ecdysone triggers programmed cell death of obsolete larval tissues during metamorphosis and provides a model system for understanding steroid hormone control of cell death and cell survival. Previous genome-wide expression studies of Drosophila larval salivary glands resulted in the identification of many genes associated with ecdysone-induced cell death and cell survival, but functional verification was lacking. In this study, we test functionally 460 of these genes using RNA interference in ecdysone-treated Drosophila l(2)mbn cells. Cell viability, cell morphology, cell proliferation, and apoptosis assays confirmed the effects of known genes and additionally resulted in the identification of six new pro-death related genes, including sorting nexin-like gene SH3PX1 and Sox box protein Sox14, and 18 new pro-survival genes. Identified genes were further characterized to determine their ecdysone dependency and potential function in cell death regulation. We found that the pro-survival function of five genes (Ras85D, Cp1, CG13784, CG32016, and CG33087), was dependent on ecdysone signaling. The TUNEL assay revealed an additional two genes (Kap-alpha3 and Smr) with an ecdysone-dependent cell survival function that was associated with reduced cell death. In vitro, Sox14 RNAi reduced the percentage of TUNEL-positive l(2)mbn cells (p<0.05) following ecdysone treatment, and Sox14 overexpression was sufficient to induce apoptosis. In vivo analyses of Sox14-RNAi animals revealed multiple phenotypes characteristic of aberrant or reduced ecdysone signaling, including defects in larval midgut and salivary gland destruction. These studies identify Sox14 as a positive regulator of ecdysone-mediated cell death and provide new insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying the ecdysone signaling network governing cell death and cell survival.https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1000379&type=printable
spellingShingle Suganthi Chittaranjan
Melissa McConechy
Ying-Chen Claire Hou
J Douglas Freeman
Lindsay Devorkin
Sharon M Gorski
Steroid hormone control of cell death and cell survival: molecular insights using RNAi.
PLoS Genetics
title Steroid hormone control of cell death and cell survival: molecular insights using RNAi.
title_full Steroid hormone control of cell death and cell survival: molecular insights using RNAi.
title_fullStr Steroid hormone control of cell death and cell survival: molecular insights using RNAi.
title_full_unstemmed Steroid hormone control of cell death and cell survival: molecular insights using RNAi.
title_short Steroid hormone control of cell death and cell survival: molecular insights using RNAi.
title_sort steroid hormone control of cell death and cell survival molecular insights using rnai
url https://journals.plos.org/plosgenetics/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pgen.1000379&type=printable
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