Author(s)

Xianyong Ma, Lin Wang, Jie Tang, Jie Li, Peter Ganins

The Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, USA.
The Department of Laboratory Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, USA.
The Department of Pathology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, USA.
Vaxinnate Corporation, New Haven, USA.

Mint is a newly identified molecule that mediates signal transduction and modulates chromatin repression. Mint family members contain a highly conserved C-terminus SPOC domain (SpenParalog and OrthologsC-terminal domain) commonly associated with proliferation and related diseases (for example: cancer) due to its role in cell differentiation and apoptosis. In this study, we addressed the SPOC function using a tetracycline-inducible system to express the target domain in Ain V15 embryonic ES cells and bone marrow stem cells from SPOC transenic mice. In vitro differentiation of Ain V15 ES cells as a model of early hematopoietic development, we found expression of SPOC domain induces hematopoietic differentiation via up-regulation of transcription factors Bmp4 and Smad5, which induce the expression of hematopoietic factors Eklf1 and hematopoietic proliferation associated factor Gata2, the SPOC domain also plays the regulation function in the differentiation of hematopoitic progenitor by colony forming Unit (CFU) assays. Further, we determined SPOC expression enhances erythrocyte and granulocyte maturationusing bone marrow cells derived from tiSPOC chimeric mice. Finally, we identified that overexpression of full length Mint in ES cells drive Smad5 and Bmp4 up-regulation under culture conditions, and up-regulation of endogenous Mint when induceshematopoitic differentiation of EML, M1 and WT18 cells. In summary, our study reveals the conserved SPOC domain of Mint protein induces differentiation both in the stages of embryonic stem cells and hematopoietic progenitor cells.

SPOC Domain; Hematopoiesis; Bmp4/Smad5 Pathway

Ma, X. , Wang, L. , Tang, J. , Li, J. and Ganins, P. (2012) SPOC domain of mint protein induces hematopoietic differentiation via Bmp4/Smad5 pathway. American Journal of Molecular Biology, 2, 304-317. doi: 10.4236/ajmb.2012.24032.