Parsing the roles of transcription factors Gata4 and Gata6 in adult cardiac hypertrophic responses

Cardiac hypertrophy is regulated by the zinc finger-containing DNA binding factors Gata4 and Gata6, both of which are required to mount a productive growth response of the adult heart. To determine if Gata4 and Gata6 are redundant or have non-overlapping roles, we performed cardiomyocyte-specific conditional gene deletions for Gata4 and Gata6 in conjunction with reciprocal replacement with a transgene encoding either Gata4 or Gata6, during the pressure overload response. We determined that Gata4 and Gata6 play a redundant and dosage-sensitive role in programming the hypertrophic growth response itself following pressure overload stimulation. However, non-redundant functions were identified as functional decompensation induced by either Gata4 or Gata6 deletion was not rescued by the reciprocal transgene, and only Gata4 heart-specific deletion produced a reduction in capillary density after pressure overload. Gene expression profiling from hearts of these gene-deleted mice showed both overlapping and unique transcriptional codes, with Gata4 exhibiting the strongest impact. These results indicate that Gata4 and Gata6 play a dosage-dependent and semi-redundant role in programming cardiac hypertrophy, but that each has a unique role in maintaining cardiac homeostasis and adaptation to injury that cannot be compensated by the other.

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van Berlo JH, Aronow BJ, Molkentin JD