The core and conserved role of MAL is homeostatic regulation of actin levels
Abstract
The transcription cofactor MAL is regulated by free actin levels and thus by actin dynamics. MAL, together with its DNA-binding partner, SRF, is required for invasive cell migration and in experimental metastasis. Although MAL/SRF has many targets, we provide genetic evidence in both Drosophila and human cellular models that actin is the key target that must be regulated by MAL/SRF for invasive cell migration. By regulating MAL/SRF activity, actin protein feeds back on production of actin mRNA to ensure sufficient supply of actin. This constitutes a dedicated homeostatic feedback system that provides a foundation for cellular actin dynamics.
Keywords
Footnotes
-
↵1 Corresponding author
E-mail prorth{at}imcb.a-star.edu.sg
-
Supplemental material is available for this article.
-
Article is online at http://www.genesdev.org/cgi/doi/10.1101/gad.237743.114.
- Received January 8, 2014.
- Accepted April 16, 2014.
This article is distributed exclusively by Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press for the first six months after the full-issue publication date (see http://genesdev.cshlp.org/site/misc/terms.xhtml). After six months, it is available under a Creative Commons License (Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International), as described at http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
