Eya2 in the pineal gland and retina

BUSTOS, DIEGO M

Conferencia; Gordon Research Conference in Pineal Cell Biology; 2010

Gordon Research Conference

Studies on the rat pineal transcriptome have made it clear that the circadian component of pineal function is not limited to melatonin production but is pervasive, impacting a broad range of processes and functions influencing essentially all aspects of the biology of the pinealocyte. During the course of a day, the expression of over 600 genes changes from two-fold to >100- fold, two-thirds of which represent nocturnal increases. One poorly understood transcription factor encoded by eya2 gene outstands over the rest. There are four mammalian eya genes with spatially and temporally complex expression patterns, with EYA1-3 expressed during early development. Only EYA2 is expressed in the pineal gland. Besides its activity as a transcription factor, it plays a pivotal role in organ formation during development by mediating interactions with others transcription factors as Sine Oculis (SO) and Dachshund (DAC). EYA2 is also a protein tyrosine phosphatase involved in promoting efficient DNA repair, rather than apoptosis, in response to genotoxic stress by executing a damage-signal-dependent dephosphorylation of an H2AX carboxy-terminal tyrosine phosphate.