Progesterone receptors (PR) mediate STAT actions: PR and prolactin receptor signaling crosstalk in breast cancer models.

Estrogen is the major mitogenic stimulus of mammary gland development during puberty wherein ER signaling acts to induce abundant PR expression. PR signaling, in contrast, is the primary driver of mammary epithelial cell proliferation in adulthood. The high circulating levels of progesterone during pregnancy signal through PR, inducing expression of the prolactin receptor (PRLR).

Modifications to glucocorticoid and progesterone receptors alter cell fate in breast cancer.

Steroid hormone receptors (SRs) are heavily posttranslationally modified by the reversible addition of a variety of molecular moieties, including phosphorylation, acetylation, methylation, SUMOylation, and ubiquitination. These rapid and dynamic modifications may be combinatorial and interact (i.e.

Single-cell telomere-length quantification couples telomere length to meristem activity and stem cell development in Arabidopsis.

Telomeres are specialized nucleoprotein caps that protect chromosome ends assuring cell division. Single-cell telomere quantification in animals established a critical role for telomerase in stem cells, yet, in plants, telomere-length quantification has been reported only at the organ level. Here, a quantitative analysis of telomere length of single cells in Arabidopsis root apex uncovered a heterogeneous telomere-length distribution of different cell lineages showing the longest telomeres at the stem cells.

MERISTEM DISORGANIZATION1 encodes TEN1, an essential telomere protein that modulates telomerase processivity in Arabidopsis.

Telomeres protect chromosome ends from being recognized as DNA damage, and they facilitate the complete replication of linear chromosomes. CST [for CTC1(Cdc13)/STN1/TEN1] is a trimeric chromosome end binding complex implicated in both aspects of telomere function. Here, we characterize TEN1 in the flowering plant Arabidopsis thaliana.

ATR cooperates with CTC1 and STN1 to maintain telomeres and genome integrity in Arabidopsis.

The CTC1/STN1/TEN1 (CST) complex is an essential constituent of plant and vertebrate telomeres. Here we show that CST and ATR (ataxia telangiectasia mutated [ATM] and Rad3-related) act synergistically to maintain telomere length and genome stability in Arabidopsis. Inactivation of ATR, but not ATM, temporarily rescued severe morphological phenotypes associated with ctc1 or stn1.

Conserved telomere maintenance component 1 interacts with STN1 and maintains chromosome ends in higher eukaryotes.

Orthologs of the yeast telomere protein Stn1 are present in plants, but other components of the Cdc13/Stn1/Ten1 (CST) complex have only been found in fungi. Here we report the identification of conserved telomere maintenance component 1 (CTC1) in plants and vertebrates. CTC1 encodes an approximately 140 kDa telomere-associated protein predicted to contain multiple OB-fold domains.

STN1 protects chromosome ends in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Telomeres shield the natural ends of chromosomes from nucleolytic attack, recognition as double-strand breaks, and inappropriate processing by DNA repair machinery. The trimeric Stn1/Ten1/Cdc13 complex is critical for chromosome end protection in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, while vertebrate telomeres are protected by shelterin, a complex of six proteins that does not include STN1 or TEN1. Recent studies demonstrate that Stn1 and Ten1 orthologs in Schizosaccharomyces pombe contribute to telomere integrity in a complex that is distinct from the shelterin components, Pot1 and Tpp1.