BIOCHEMICAL AND GENETIC ANALYSIS OF NOTCH SIGNALING

Washington University, Saint Louis MO

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Abstract

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The long-term goal of this application is to improve our understanding of the mechanisms through which Notch signaling, a major cellular communication pathway, regulates mammalian development and stem cell-based maintenance of adult tissues, and to apply such insights to tissue engineering and disease abatement. Pathway activation occurs when ligand binding to any of the four vertebrate Notch receptors triggers proteolytic release of a signal unit (the Notch intracellular domain; NICD). All 4 NICDs engage in transcription by forming a complex with RBPjk, a DNA-binding protein. Since all NICDs bind to RBPjk with equal affinity, co-expression of Notch paralogs results in redundancy, thereby leading to robustness (insensitivity to loss of one allele). However, several observations suggest that Notch receptors are not always redundant when co-expressed, resulting in developmental syndromes when one copy of a specific mammalian Notch receptor is mutated despite the presence (and in some cases, activation) of other highly conserved Notch paralogs. In addition to this context-specific activity, we identified NICD paralog-specific activities in 3 tissues where Notch paralogs are individually expressed: T-cells, B-cell and endothelial cells. This application will use a multi-pronged approach aimed to determine the mechanistic basis for paralog-specific Notch activities in these tissues. Attaining a better understanding of how context affects Notch signaling output goes beyond the academic interest in the mechanism of Notch signaling, paving the way for novel, receptor- and tissue-specific treatment of developmental syndromes associated with Notch loss, receptor-specific inhibition in cancer, Notch receptor- specific contribution to the stem cell-niche interactions and selective activation of desired paralogs for organ engineering initiatives.