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The Company of Biologists, Journal of Cell Science, 16(135), 2022

DOI: 10.1242/jcs.260148

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An atypical MAPK regulates translocation of a GATA transcription factor in response to chemoattractant stimulation

Journal article published in 2022 by Jeffrey A. Hadwiger ORCID, Huaqing Cai ORCID, Ramee G. Aranda, Saher Fatima
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.
This paper is made freely available by the publisher.

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Abstract

ABSTRACT The Dictyostelium atypical mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) Erk2 is required for chemotactic responses to cAMP as amoeba undergo multicellular development. In this study, Erk2 was found to be essential for the cAMP-stimulated translocation of the GATA transcription factor GtaC as indicated by the distribution of a GFP–GtaC reporter. Erk2 was also found to be essential for the translocation of GtaC in response to external folate, a foraging signal that directs the chemotaxis of amoeba to bacteria. Erk1, the only other Dictyostelium MAPK, was not required for the GtaC translocation to either chemoattractant, indicating that GFP–GtaC is a kinase translocation reporter specific for atypical MAPKs. The translocation of GFP–GtaC in response to folate was absent in mutants lacking the folate receptor Far1 or the coupled G-protein subunit Gα4. Loss of GtaC function resulted in enhanced chemotactic movement to folate, suggesting that GtaC suppresses responses to folate. The alteration of four Erk2-preferred phosphorylation sites in GtaC impacted the translocation of GFP–GtaC in response to folate and the GFP–GtaC-mediated rescue of aggregation and development of gtaC− cells. The ability of different chemoattractants to stimulate Erk2-regulated GtaC translocation suggests that atypical MAPK-mediated regulation of transcription factors can contribute to different cell fates.