The putative bZIP transcription factor BzpN slows proliferation and functions in the regulation of cell density by autocrine signals in Dictyostelium.

The secreted proteins AprA and CfaD function as autocrine signals that inhibit cell proliferation in Dictyostelium discoideum, thereby regulating cell numbers by a negative feedback mechanism. We report here that the putative basic leucine zipper transcription factor BzpN plays a role in the inhibition of proliferation by AprA and CfaD. Cells lacking BzpN proliferate more rapidly than wild-type cells but do not reach a higher stationary density. Recombinant AprA inhibits wild-type cell proliferation but does not inhibit the proliferation of cells lacking BzpN. Recombinant CfaD also inhibits wild-type cell proliferation, but promotes the proliferation of cells lacking BzpN. Overexpression of BzpN results in a reduced cell density at stationary phase, and this phenotype requires AprA, CfaD, and the kinase QkgA. Conditioned media from high-density cells stops the proliferation of wild-type but not bzpN(-) cells and induces a nuclear localization of a BzpN-GFP fusion protein, though this localization does not require AprA or CfaD. Together, the data suggest that BzpN is necessary for some but not all of the effects of AprA and CfaD, and that BzpN may function downstream of AprA and CfaD in a signal transduction pathway that inhibits proliferation.