Cell Communication and Signaling (Sep 2022)

Caenorhabditis elegans NHR-14/HNF4α regulates DNA damage-induced apoptosis through cooperating with cep-1/p53

  • Lei Sang,
  • Rui Dong,
  • Rui Liu,
  • Qinggang Hao,
  • Weiyu Bai,
  • Jianwei Sun

DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12964-022-00920-5
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 20, no. 1
pp. 1 – 11

Abstract

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Abstract Background Nuclear hormone receptors are involved in transcriptional regulation and many important cellular processes including development and metabolism. However, its role in DNA damage-induced apoptosis remains elusive. Methods Synchronized young adult animals were irradiated with different doses of gamma-Ray, and then put back to culture at 20 °C. Germline cell apoptosis was scored at different time point. Results Deletion of nhr-14 led to decreased DNA damage-induced germline apoptosis, but not the physiological programmed cell death. We also demonstrate that nhr-14 functions downstream of the DNA damage checkpoint pathway. Moreover, we show that nhr-14 regulates egl-1 and ced-13 transcription upon DNA damage. Mechanistically, NHR-14 forms a complex with CEP-1/p53 and binds directly to the egl-1 promoter to promote egl-1 transcription.. Conclusions Our results indicate that NHR-14/HNF4α cooperates with CEP-1/p53 to regulate DNA damage-induced apoptosis. Graphic abstract Video abstract

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