T cell factor 1 is a gatekeeper for T-cell specification in response to Notch signaling
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ABSTRACT: Although transcriptional programs associated with T-cell specification and commitment have been described, the functional hierarchy and the roles of key regulators in structuring/ orchestrating these programs remain unclear. Activation of Notch signaling in uncommitted precursors by the thymic stroma initiates the T-cell differentiation program. One regulator first induced in these precursors is the DNA binding protein Tcf-1, a T-cell specific mediator of Wnt signaling. Yet the specific contribution of Tcf-1 to early T-cell development and the signals inducing it in these cells remain unclear. Here we assign functional significance to Tcf-1 as a gatekeeper of T-cell fate. We show that Tcf-1 is directly activated by Notch signals. Tcf-1 is required at the earliest phase of Tcell determination for progression beyond the early thymic progenitor (ETP) stage. The global expression profile of Tcf-1 deficient progenitors indicates that basic processes of DNA metabolism are downregulated in its absence and the blocked T-cell progenitors become abortive and die by apoptosis. Our data thus add an important functional relationship to the roadmap of T-cell development. We used microarrays to detail the global programme of gene expression of mouse ETP thymocyte after Ikaros inactivation with dominant negative of Ik at different stage.
ORGANISM(S): Mus musculus
PROVIDER: GSE33513 | GEO | 2011/12/06
SECONDARY ACCESSION(S): PRJNA148813
REPOSITORIES: GEO
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