Abstract
Bmyb is a ubiquitously expressed transcription factor involved in cellular proliferation and cancer. Loss of bmyb function in the zebrafish mutant crash&burn (crb) results in decreased cyclin B1 expression, mitotic arrest and genome instability. These phenotypic observations in crb mutants could be attributed to the decreased expression of cyclin B1, a cell-cycle regulatory protein that is responsible for driving cell progression from G2 through mitosis. To identify small molecules that interact with the bmyb pathway, we developed an embryo-based suppressor screening strategy. In 16 weeks we screened a diverse ∼16, 000 compound library, and discovered one previously unknown compound, persynthamide (psy, 1), that suppressed bmyb-dependent mitotic defects. Psy- treated embryos showed an S-phase delay, and knockdown of the cell-cycle checkpoint regulator ataxia telangiectasia—and Rad-related kinase (ATR) abrogated the suppression of crb. The DNA synthesis inhibitors aphidicolin (2) and hydroxyurea (3) also suppressed crb. S-phase inhibition upregulated cyclin B1 mRNA, promoting the progression of cells through mitosis. Our study demonstrates that chemical suppressor screening in zebrafish can identify compounds with cell-cycle activity and can be used to identify pathways that interact with specific cell-cycle phenotypes.
Original language | English (US) |
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Pages (from-to) | 366-370 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Journal | Nature chemical biology |
Volume | 1 |
Issue number | 7 |
DOIs | |
State | Published - Dec 2005 |
ASJC Scopus subject areas
- Molecular Biology
- Cell Biology