The lymphatic system plays a key role in tissue fluid homeostasis. Lymphatic dysfunction contributes to the pathogenesis of many human diseases, including lymphedema and tumor metastasis. However, the mechanisms regulating lymphangiogenesis remain largely unknown. Here, we show that COUP-TFII (also known as Nr2f2), an orphan member of the nuclear receptor superfamily, mediates both developmenta...

The rainbow trout estrogen receptor (rtER) is a positively autoregulated gene in liver cells. In a previous report, we showed that upregulation is mediated by an estrogen response element (ERE) located in the proximal promoter of the gene and that a half binding site for nuclear receptors (5'-TGACCT-3') located 15 bp upstream of the ERE is involved in the magnitude of the estrogen response. We ...

A large proportion of coup attempts in autocracies occur in the aftermath of elections, yet little systematic research exists on the topic. Drawing on recent literature on elections in autocracies, we present an argument to explain postelection coups. While we recognize that electoral institutions have the potential to stabilize autocracies, we illustrate that the election event can spark insta...

Ear3/COUP is an orphan member of the steroid/thyroid hormone receptor superfamily of transcription factors and binds most tightly to a direct repeat of AGGTCA with 1 nucleotide in between (DR1). Ear3/COUP also binds with a similar affinity to the palindromic thyroid hormone response element (TRE). This binding preference of Ear3/COUP is same as that of the retinoid X receptor (RXR), which is an...

Chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter-transcription factors (COUP-TFs) are orphan receptors involved in regulation of neurogenesis and organogenesis. COUP-TF family members are generally considered to be transcriptional repressors and several mechanisms have been proposed to underlie this activity. To explore novel transcriptional coregulators for COUP-TFs, we used the COUP-TFI as bait in a yeast...

In mammals, the COUP-TF-family consisting of two structurally related proteins, COUP-TFI and COUP-TFII belongs to the orphan member of the steroid/thyroid hormone receptor superfamily. In an attempt to gain insights into the role of COUP-TFII, we examined developmental expression pattern of the mouse COUP-TFII focusing our studies on endoderm-derived tissues, pancreas and liver in particular. I...

BACKGROUND COUP transcription factors are required for the regulation of gene expression underlying development, differentiation, and homeostasis. They have an evolutionarily conserved function, being a known marker for neurogenesis from cnidarians to vertebrates. A homologue of this gene was shown previously to be a neuronal and nematocyte differentiation marker in Hydra. However, COUP-TFs had...

Proposition 1: As I argued in the paper, there is no equilibrium in which the dictator uses a pure strategy and the ruling coalition conditions its decision to stage a coup on the observed signal. In any equilibrium in mixed strategies, (i) the ruling coalition stages a coup with probability βθ such that, given the correlation between his actions and the signal θ, the dictator is indifferent be...

Transcription factors contribute to the differentiation of cortical neurons, orchestrate specific interneuronal circuits, and define synaptic relationships. We have investigated neurons expressing chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter transcription factor II (COUP-TFII), which plays a role in the migration of GABAergic neurons. Whole-cell, patch-clamp recording in vitro combined with colocalizati...

The orphan nuclear receptor COUP-TFI (Nr2f1) regulates many aspects of mammalian development, but little is known about its role in cochlear hair cell and Deiter's support cell development. The COUP-TFI knockout (COUP-TFI(-/-)) has a significant increase in hair cell (HC) number in the mid-to-apical turns. The total number of hair cells is not increased over wild type, perhaps because of displa...