Relative roles of the different Pax6 domains for pancreatic alpha cell development

Background: The transcription factor Pax6 functions in the specification and maintenance of the differentiated cell lineages in the endocrine pancreas. It has two DNA binding domains, the paired domain and the homeodomain, in addition to a C-terminal transactivation domain. The phenotype of Pax6(-/-) knockout mice suggests non-redundant functions of the transcription factor in the development of glucagon-expressing alpha-cells as this cell type is absent in the mutants. We ask the question of how the differentiation of pancreatic endocrine cells, in particular that of alpha-cells, is affected by selective inactivation of either one of the three major domains of Pax6. Results: The Pax6(Aey18) mutant mouse line, in which the paired domain is inactivated, showed a phenotype similar to that of Pax6(-/-) knockout mice with a near complete absence of glucagon-positive alpha-cells (0-4 cells/section; <= 1% of wt), reduced beta-cell area (74% of wt) and disorganized islets. The proportion of ghrelin-positive epsilon-cells was expanded. In Pax6(Sey-Neu) mutants, which lack the transactivation domain, alpha-and beta-cells where reduced to 25 and 40% of wt, respectively. We also studied two mouse lines with mutations in the homeodomain, Pax6(4Neu) and Pax6(132-14Neu). Neighboring amino acids are affected in the two lines and both point mutations abolish DNA binding of the classical P3 homeodomain target sequence. The pancreatic phenotype of the two mutants however was divergent. While Pax6(4Neu) homozygotes showed a reduction of alpha-and beta-cells to 59 and 61%, respectively, pancreatic endocrine development was unaltered in the Pax6(132-14Neu) mutant strain. Conclusions: We show that inactivation of the Pax6 paired domain leads to a more severe phenotype with regards to the differentiation of pancreatic alpha-cells than the loss of the transactivation domain. The analysis of two different homeodomain mutants suggests that the binding of Pax6 to P3 homeodomain consensus sequences is not required for alpha-cell development. It rather seems that the homeodomain has a modulating role in Pax6 function, possibly by facilitating a PH0-like binding confirmation on paired domain target genes like proglucagon. This function is differentially affected by the two homeodomain mutations analyzed in this study.