E2F coregulates an essential HSF developmental program that is distinct from the heat-shock response

• Published in: Genes & development Vol. 30; no. 18; pp. 2062 - 2075
• Main Authors: Li, Jian, Chauve, Laetitia, Phelps, Grace, Brielmann, Renée M, Morimoto, Richard I
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press 15.09.2016
• Subjects: Animals; Caenorhabditis elegans; Caenorhabditis elegans - genetics; Caenorhabditis elegans - growth & development; Caenorhabditis elegans Proteins - genetics; E2F Transcription Factors - genetics; E2F Transcription Factors - metabolism; Gene Regulatory Networks - genetics; Genome, Helminth - genetics; Heat-Shock Response - genetics; Larva - genetics; Larva - growth & development; Metazoa; Nucleotide Motifs; Promoter Regions, Genetic - genetics; Protein Binding; Research Paper; heat-shock factor (HSF); Caenorhabditis elegans; transcription regulation; development; E2F transcription factor; stress response; molecular chaperones
• ISSN: 0890-9369; 1549-5477
• DOI: 10.1101/gad.283317.116

Heat-shock factor (HSF) is the master transcriptional regulator of the heat-shock response (HSR) and is essential for stress resilience. HSF is also required for metazoan development; however, its function and regulation in this process are poorly understood. Here, we characterize the genomic distribution and transcriptional activity of Caenorhabditis elegans HSF-1 during larval development and show that the developmental HSF-1 transcriptional program is distinct from the HSR. HSF-1 developmental activation requires binding of E2F/DP to a GC-rich motif that facilitates HSF-1 binding to a heat-shock element (HSE) that is degenerate from the consensus HSE sequence and adjacent to the E2F-binding site at promoters. In contrast, induction of the HSR is independent of these promoter elements or E2F/DP and instead requires a distinct set of tandem canonical HSEs. Together, E2F and HSF-1 directly regulate a gene network, including a specific subset of chaperones, to promote protein biogenesis and anabolic metabolism, which are essential in development.