Murtagh Janice, Martin Finian, Gronostajski Richard M
Conway Institute of Biomolecular and Biomedical Research and Department of Pharmacology, University College Dublin, Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland.
J Mammary Gland Biol Neoplasia. 2003 Apr;8(2):241-54. doi: 10.1023/a:1025909109843.
Mammary gland development and function require the coordinated spatial and temporal expression of a large fraction of the mammalian genome. A number of site-specific transcription factors are essential to achieve the appropriate growth, branching, expansion, and involution of the mammary gland throughout early postnatal development and the lactation cycle. One family of transcription factors proposed to play a major role in the mammary gland is encoded by the Nuclear Factor I (NFI) genes. The NFI gene family is found only in multicellular animals, with single genes being present in flies and worms and four genes in vertebrates. While the NFI family expanded and diversified prior to the evolution of the mammary gland, it is clear that several mammary-gland specific genes are regulated by NFI proteins. Here we address the structure and evolution of the NFI gene family and examine the role of the NFI transcription factors in the expression of mammary-gland specific proteins, including whey acidic protein and carboxyl ester lipase. We discuss current data showing that unique NFI proteins are expressed during lactation and involution and suggest that the NFI gene family likely has multiple important functions throughout mammary gland development.
乳腺的发育和功能需要哺乳动物基因组中很大一部分基因在空间和时间上的协调表达。在出生后早期发育和泌乳周期中，许多位点特异性转录因子对于实现乳腺的适当生长、分支、扩张和退化至关重要。一类被认为在乳腺中起主要作用的转录因子由核因子I（NFI）基因编码。NFI基因家族仅存在于多细胞动物中，果蝇和蠕虫中有单个基因，脊椎动物中有四个基因。虽然NFI家族在乳腺进化之前就已经扩展和多样化，但很明显，一些乳腺特异性基因受NFI蛋白调控。在这里，我们探讨NFI基因家族的结构和进化，并研究NFI转录因子在乳腺特异性蛋白（包括乳清酸性蛋白和羧基酯脂肪酶）表达中的作用。我们讨论了当前的数据，这些数据表明独特的NFI蛋白在泌乳和退化过程中表达，并表明NFI基因家族在整个乳腺发育过程中可能具有多种重要功能。
