"Three coelomocyte genes reported here encode transcription factors. These are an NFKB homologue (SpNFKB); a GATA-2/3 homologue (SpGATAc); and a runt domain factor (SpRunt-1)."

"All three of these coelomocyte genes respond sharply to bacterial challenge: SpNFKB and SpRunt-1 genes are rapidly up-regulated, while transcripts of SpGATAc factor disappear within hours of injection of bacteria."

"Here we characterize the oral NSM expression and downstream function of two homologs of key vertebrate hematopoietic transcription factors: SpGatac, an ortholog of vertebrate Gata-1/2/3 and SpScl, an ortholog of Scl/Tal-2/Lyl-1."

"Perturbation of SpGatac affects blastocoelar cell migration at gastrulation and later expression of immune effector genes, whereas interference with SpScl function disrupts segregation of pigment and blastocoelar cell precursors."

"Regulatory analysis of SpGatac indicates that oral NSM identity is directly suppressed in presumptive pigment cells by the transcription factor SpGcm."

"Homologs of several transcription regulators that interact with Gata-1/2/3 and Scl factors in vertebrate hematopoiesis are also co-expressed in the oral NSM, including SpE-protein, the sea urchin homolog of vertebrate E2A/HEB/E2-2 and SpLmo2, an ortholog of a dedicated cofactor of the Scl-GATA transcription complex."

"The first transcription factor genes specific to the oral NSM, prox1 and gataC, are transcriptionally activated in this region between 17 and 18 hpf (Fig. 1B,T), which is significantly later than the onset of Nodal transcription at about 8–9 hpf (Fig. 1B)."

"If gcm or gataE expression are blocked by treatment with MASOs we see an expansion of ese, prox1, gataC, and erg expression (the same is seen for shr2 expression; not shown)."

"GataC MASO treatment does not affect any regulatory genes pre-gastrulation (Supp. Fig. 4; Solek and Rast, personal communication)"

"About one-third of the NSM cells, located in a V-shaped sector directly beneath the oral ectoderm, give rise upon gastrulation to a particular mesenchymal cell type known as blastocoelar cells (Ruffins and Ettensohn, 1996)."

"These genes encode the transcription factors Prox1, GataC, and Ese and are activated at around 16 hpf (Materna et al., 2010). The prox1, gataC, and ese genes are of particular interest because they are specifically expressed in the oral mesoderm (Fig. 6) (Poustka et al., 2007; Rizzo et al., 2006)."

"One or more of prox1, ese, and gataC could potentially be directly activated by D/N signaling as well."

"Examples include SpGataE and SpGataC (orthologs of Gata4/Gata5/Gata6 and Gata1/Gata2/Gata3, respectively)"