Phosphorylation state of a Tob/BTG protein, FOG-3, regulates initiation and maintenance of the Caenorhabditis elegans sperm fate program
Author
Lee, Myon-Hee; Kim, Kyung Won; Morgan, Clinton T.; Morgan, Dyan E.; Kimble, Judith
Abstract
FOG-3, the single Caenorhabditis elegans Tob/BTG protein, directs germ cells to adopt the sperm fate at the expense of oogenesis. Importantly, FOG-3 activity must be maintained for the continued production of sperm that is typical of the male sex. Vertebrate Tob proteins have antiproliferative activity and ERK phosphorylation of Tob proteins has been proposed to abrogate “antiproliferative” activity. Here we investigate FOG-3 phosphorylation and its effect on sperm fate specification. We found both phosphorylated and unphosphorylated forms of FOG-3 in nematodes. We then interrogated the role of FOG-3 phosphorylation in sperm fate specification. Specifically, we assayed FOG-3 transgenes for rescue of a fog-3 null mutant. Wild-type FOG-3 rescued both initiation and maintenance of sperm fate specification. A FOG-3 mutant with its four consensus ERK phosphorylation sites substituted to alanines, called FOG-3(4A), rescued partially: sperm were made transiently but not continuously in both sexes. A different FOG-3 mutant with its sites substituted to glutamates, called FOG-3(4E), had no rescuing activity on its own, but together with FOG-3(4A) rescue was complete. Thus, when FOG-3(4A) and FOG-3(4E) were both introduced into the same animals, sperm fate specification was not only initiated but also maintained, resulting in continuous spermatogenesis in males. Our findings suggest that unphosphorylated FOG-3 initiates the sperm fate program and that phosphorylated FOG-3 maintains that program for continued sperm production typical of males. We discuss implications of our results for Tob/BTG proteins in vertebrates.
Date
2011-05-12
Citation:
APA:
Lee, Myon-Hee, & Kim, Kyung Won, & Morgan, Clinton T., & Morgan, Dyan E., & Kimble, Judith. (May 2011).
Phosphorylation state of a Tob/BTG protein, FOG-3, regulates initiation and maintenance of the Caenorhabditis elegans sperm fate program.
,
(),
-
. Retrieved from
http://hdl.handle.net/10342/7987
MLA:
Lee, Myon-Hee, and Kim, Kyung Won, and Morgan, Clinton T., and Morgan, Dyan E., and Kimble, Judith.
"Phosphorylation state of a Tob/BTG protein, FOG-3, regulates initiation and maintenance of the Caenorhabditis elegans sperm fate program". .
. (),
May 2011.
September 26, 2023.
http://hdl.handle.net/10342/7987.
Chicago:
Lee, Myon-Hee and Kim, Kyung Won and Morgan, Clinton T. and Morgan, Dyan E. and Kimble, Judith,
"Phosphorylation state of a Tob/BTG protein, FOG-3, regulates initiation and maintenance of the Caenorhabditis elegans sperm fate program," , no.
(May 2011),
http://hdl.handle.net/10342/7987 (accessed
September 26, 2023).
AMA:
Lee, Myon-Hee, Kim, Kyung Won, Morgan, Clinton T., Morgan, Dyan E., Kimble, Judith.
Phosphorylation state of a Tob/BTG protein, FOG-3, regulates initiation and maintenance of the Caenorhabditis elegans sperm fate program. .
May 2011;
():
.
http://hdl.handle.net/10342/7987. Accessed
September 26, 2023.
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