Wu WH, Kuo TH, Kao CW, Girardot C, Hung SJ, Liu T, Furlong EEM, Liu YA
FEBS Letters, 2019 May.
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FEBS Letters | DOI:
10.1002/1873-3468.13443
The Drosophila transcription factor (TF) Zfh1 has distinct roles compared to the cell lineage-determining TFs in almost all mesoderm-derived tissues. Here, we link Zfh1 to the well-characterized mesodermal transcriptional network. We identify five enhancers integrating upstream regulatory inputs from mesodermal TFs and directing zfh1 expression in mesoderm. Most downstream Zfh1-target genes are co-bound by mesodermal TFs, suggesting that Zfh1 and mesodermal TFs act on the same sets of co-regulated genes during the development of certain mesodermal tissues. Furthermore, we demonstrate that Zfh1 is critical for the expression of a hemocyte marker gene peroxidasin and helps restrict the activity of a hemocyte-specific enhancer of serpent to hemocyte-deriving head mesoderm, suggesting a potential role of Zfh1 in hemocyte development.