Cell cycle gene-specific control of transcription has a critical role in proliferation of primordial germ cells

  1. Yasuhisa Matsui1,8
  1. 1Cell Resource Center for Biomedical Research, Institute of Development, Aging, and Cancer, Tohoku University, Sendai, Miyagi 980-8575, Japan;
  2. 2Gene Expression Laboratory, Salk Institute for Biological Studies, La Jolla, California 92037, USA;
  3. 3Laboratory of Molecular Growth Regulation, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institute of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA;
  4. 4Mammalian Cellular Dynamics, RIKEN BioResource Center, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0074, Japan;
  5. 5Department of Physiology, School of Medicine, Keio University, Tokyo 113-0021, Japan;
  6. 6Center of Regenerative Medicine in Barcelona, Barcelona 08003, Spain
    • 7 Present address: Division of Environmental Toxicology, Department of Pharmacology, School of Medicine, Jichi Medical University, Tochigi 329-0498, Japan

    Abstract

    Transcription elongation is stimulated by positive transcription elongation factor b (P-TEFb), for which activity is repressed in the 7SK small nuclear ribonucleoprotein (7SK snRNP) complex. We show here a critical role of 7SK snRNP in growth control of primordial germ cells (PGCs). The expression of p15INK4b, a cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor (CDKI) gene, in PGCs is selectively activated by P-TEFb and its recruiting molecule, Brd4, when the amount of active P-TEFb is increased due to reduction of the 7SK snRNP, and PGCs consequently undergo growth arrest. These results indicate that CDKI gene-specific control of transcription by 7SK snRNP plays a pivotal role in the maintenance of PGC proliferation.

    Keywords

    Footnotes

    • Received July 26, 2012.
    • Accepted September 26, 2012.
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