SKN-1-independent transcriptional activation of glutathione S-transferase 4 (GST-4) by EGF signaling.

In research, transcriptional activation of glutathione S-transferase 4 () is often used as a read-out for SKN-1 activity. While many heed an assumed non-exclusivity of the GFP reporter signal driven by the promoter to SKN-1, this is also often ignored. We here show that can also be transcriptionally activated by EOR-1, a transcription factor mediating effects of the epidermal growth factor (EGF) pathway. Along with enhancing exogenous oxidative stress tolerance, EOR-1 inde-pendently of SKN-1 increases transcription in response to augmented EGF signaling. Our findings caution researchers within the community to always rely on sufficient experimental controls when assaying SKN-1 transcriptional activity with a reporter, such as SKN-1 loss-of-function mutants and/or additional target genes next to .