Selective postmortem degradation of inducible heat shock protein 70 (hsp70) mRNAs in rat Brain

Summary 1. Altered mRNA levels in postmortem brain tissue from persons with Alzheimer's disease (AD) or other neurological diseases are usually presumed to be characteristic of the disease state, even though both agonal state (the physiological state immediately premortem) and postmortem interval (PMI) (the time between death and harvesting the tissue) have the potential to affect levels of mRNAs measured in postmortem tissue. Although the possible effect of postmortem interval on mRNA levels has been more carefully evaluated than that of agonal state, many studies assume that all mRNAs have similar rates of degradation postmortem.2. To determine the postmortem stability of inducible heat shock protein 70 (hsp70) mRNAs, themselves unstablein vivo at normal body temperature, rats were heat shocked in order to induce synthesis of the hsp70 mRNAs. hsp70 mRNA levels in cerebellum and cortex were then compared to those of their heat shock cognate 70 (hsc70) mRNAs, as well as to levels of 18S rRNAs, at 0 and at 24 hr postmortem.3. Quantiation of northern blots after hybridization with an hsp70 mRNA-specific oligo probe indicated a massive loss of hsp70 mRNA signal in RNAs isolated from 24-hr postmortem brains; quantitation by slot-blot hybridization was 5- to 15-fold more efficient. Even using the latter technique, hsp70 mRNA levels were reduced by 59% in 24-hr-postmortem cerebellum and by 78% in cortex compared to mRNA levels in the same region of 0-hr-postmortem brain. There was little reduction postmortem in levels of the hsp70 mRNAs or of 18S rRNAs in either brain region.4.In situ hybridization analysis indicated that hsp70 mRNAs were less abundant in all major classes of cerebellar cells after 24 hr postmortem and mRNAs had degraded severalfold more rapidly in neurons than in glia. There was no corresponding loss of intracellular 18S rRNA in any cell type.5. We conclude from these results that the effect of postmortem interval on mRNA degradation must be carefully evaluated when analyzing levels of inducible hsp70 mRNAs, and perhaps other short-lived mRNAs, in human brain.     

Molecular cloning and analysis of DNA complementary to three mouse Mr = 68,000 heat shock protein mRNAs

The construction and isolation of three recombinant DNAs complementary to different mouse L-cell Mr = 68,000 heat shock protein (hsp68) mRNAs is described. cDNA libraries derived from heat-shocked mouse L-cell poly(A)+ RNA by the vector-linked primer strategy of cDNA synthesis and cloning of Okayama and Berg (Okayama, H., and Berg, P. (1982) Mol. Cell. Biol. 2, 161-170) were screened first with a Drosophila hsp70 heterologous probe and subsequently with a cDNA probe isolated from the first screening. Positive clones were assigned to one of three sets based on their restriction map, and the largest member of each group was chosen for further analysis. All three cDNAs hybrid-select mRNA for the mouse major heat shock protein (hsp68) as assayed by in vitro translation and hybridize preferentially to two heat shock-induced hsp68 mRNAs on Northern blots. The coding regions of the cDNAs are almost identical and closely resemble other HSP70 genes but the 3' untranslated regions diverge considerably. Differences in the lengths of the untranslated regions are responsible for the two different sized induced hsp68 mRNAs in mouse L-cells. The physical maps of these cDNA clones and the limited number of mouse genomic DNA fragments detected on Southern blots suggest that there are at least three closely related heat shock-inducible members of the mouse HSP70 gene family. None of the cloned cDNAs are derived from the two related cognate genes known to be present in the mouse genome.     

Heat Shock Proteins and Their mRNAs in Dry and Early Imbibing Embryos of Wheat

Two-dimensional gels of in vitro translation products of mRNAs isolated from quiescent wheat (Triticum aestivum) embryos demonstrate the presence of mRNAs encoding heat shock proteins (hsps). There were no detectable differences in the mRNAs found in mature embryos from field grown, from 25°C growth chamber cultivated, or from plants given 38°C heat stresses at different stages of seed development. The mRNAs encoding several developmentally dependent (dd) hsps were among those found in the dry embryos. Stained two-dimensional gels of proteins extracted from 25°C growth chamber cultivated wheat embryos demonstrated the presence of hsps, including dd hsps. A study of the relationship of preexisting hsp mRNAs and the heat shock response during early imbibition was undertaken. Heat shocks (42°C, 90 minutes) were administered following 1.5, 16, and 24 hours of 25°C imbibition. While the mRNAs encoding the low molecular weight hsps decayed rapidly upon imbibition, the mRNAs for dd hsps persisted longer and were still detectable following 16 hours of imbibition. After 1.5 hours of imbibition, the mRNAs for the dd hsps did not accumulate in response to heat shock, even though the synthesis of the proteins was enhanced. Thus, an applied heat shock appeared to lead to the preferential translation of preexisting dd hsp mRNAs. The mRNAs for the other hsps, except hsp 70, were newly transcribed at all of the imbibition times examined. The behavior of the hsp 70 group of proteins during early imbibition was examined by RNA gel blot analysis. The mRNAs for the hsp 70 group were detectable at moderate levels in the quiescent embryo. The relative level of hsp 70 mRNA increased after the onset of imbibition at 25°C and remained high through 25.5 hours of prior imbibition. The maximal levels of these mRNAs at 25°C was reached at 17.5 hours of imbibition. Heat shock caused modest additional accumulation of hsp70 mRNA at later imbibition times.     

Hydrogen peroxide induces heat shock protein and proto-oncogene mRNA accumulation in Xenopus laevis A6 kidney epithelial cells

In this study, we examined the effect of hydrogen peroxide on the accumulation of various mRNAs encoding heat shock proteins (hsps) and proto-oncogenes in Xenopus A6 kidney epithelial cells. Hydrogen peroxide treatment enhanced the accumulation of hsp90, hsp70, hsp30, c-jun, c-fos, and actin mRNAs with distinct temporal patterns. Although hsp70, c-fos, and c-jun mRNA levels peaked at 1-2 h before declining, hsp30 and hsp90 mRNA levels were maximal at 4-6 h. Other mRNAs, including heat shock cognate hsc70, immunoglobulin binding protein, and ribosomal L8, were unaffected. Treatment of kidney cells with a combination of mild heat shock plus hydrogen peroxide resulted in a synergistic increase in the relative levels of both hsp70 and hsp30 mRNA, but not hsp90, c-fos, c-jun, or actin. This study suggests that analysis of hsp and proto-oncogene mRNA levels may be of value as molecular biomarkers of oxidative stress associated with various disease states and nephrotoxicity in kidney.     

Regulation of HSP70 synthesis by messenger RNA degradation.

When Drosophila cells are heat shocked, hsp70 messenger RNA (mRNA) is stable and is translated at high efficiencies. During recovery from heat shock, hsp70 synthesis is repressed and its messenger RNA (mRNA) is degraded in a highly regulated fashion. Dramatic differences in the timing of repression and degradation are observed after heat treatments of different severities. The 3' untranslated region (UTR) of the hsp70 mRNA was sufficient to transfer this regulated degradation to heterologous mRNAs. Altering the translational efficiency of the message or changing its natural translation-termination site did not alter its pattern of regulation, although in some cases it changed the absolute rate of degradation. We have previously shown that hsp70 mRNA is very unstable when it is expressed at normal growth temperatures (from a metallothionein promoter). We report here that the 3' untranslated region of the hsp70 mRNA is responsible for this instability as well. We postulate that a mechanism for degrading hsp70 mRNA pre-exists in Drosophila cells, that it is inactivated by heat shock and that it is the reactivation of this mechanism that is responsible for hsp70 repression during recovery. This degradation system may be the same as that used by other unstable mRNAs.     

Simultaneous activation of heat shock protein (hsp 70) and nucleolin genes during in vivo and in vitro prereplicative stages of rat hepatocytes.

Rapidly growing cells usually have high levels of ribosome biogenesis. The sequential expression of protooncogenes during the transition of quiescent hepatocytes to the replicative stage was assumed to be followed by activation of cellular genes related to cell growth such as ribosome biosynthesis. First, the expression of major nucleolar protein (nucleolin or C23) and major heat-shock protein (hsp 70) genes was examined during rat liver regeneration. hsp 70 may function in cell growth and has a characteristic nucleolar location after heat shock. Both nucleolin and hsp 70 mRNA began to increase simultaneously after peaks of c-fos and c-myc, showed a peak 6 h after partial hepatectomy, and declined to the control levels around 20 h. That is, the peaks of nucleolin and hsp 70 mRNA precede the peak of ribosome formation (12-20 h) and DNA replication (24 h). Second, the behavior of nucleolin and hsp 70 mRNA was examined in primary cultured hepatocytes during their G0-G1 transition. Although the amounts of c-myc mRNA reached a plateau around 20 h after the initiation of culture and remained at these levels, DNA synthesis has never been found to start without the addition of EGF and insulin to this system. Both nucleolin and hsp 70 mRNA began to increase at around 20 h (prereplicative stage) and simultaneously decreased in inverse proportion to DNA synthesis induced by these growth factors. Thus, it is possible that the simultaneous enhancement of nucleolin and hsp 70 genes as described above is not merely coincidental, but is important biologically during the transition of quiescent hepatocytes to proliferative cells.     

A consensus sequence polymer inhibits in vivo expression of heat shock genes.

Promoter function for hsp70 gene expression in Drosophila melanogaster was studied with an in vivo competition assay. A polymer of 40 tandem copies of the pair of regulatory elements of the hsp70 gene was constructed and cloned into a plasmid vector. Various marked genes were cotransfected with the polymer plasmid into Schneider line 2 cells, and their expression was determined by enzyme activity measurements. The polymer dramatically inhibited expression of cotransfected hsp70, hsp26, and hsp83 genes, but not cotransfected copia and histone genes. Our results indicate that in vivo, a trans-acting, positive regulatory factor, which can be titrated by heat shock consensus sequences, is required for activation of heat shock genes and is specific for these genes; the coordinate induction of different heat shock genes appears to be mediated by similar, but not identical, interactions of the trans-acting induction factor and the cis-acting heat shock consensus sequences; and the uninduced or basal level expression of the transfected hsp70 gene is also due to interaction of the consensus sequence with a positively acting factor.     

Activation of heme oxygenase and heat shock protein 70 genes by stress in human hepatoma cells

Effects of various stresses were examined on the accumulation of mRNA for microsomal heme oxygenase and a heat shock protein, hsp70, in three human hepatoma cell lines. By heat shock, hsp70 mRNA was induced in all three hepatoma lines, Hep G2, Hep 3B and Hep G2f, while heme oxygenase mRNA was increased only in Hep 3B. Time-courses of the heat shock induction of both mRNAs in Hep 3B were similar. Arsenite caused induction of both mRNAs in all three cell lines, while cadmium increased them in Hep G2 and Hep 3B, but not in Hep G2f cells. These findings suggest that, although both hsp70 and heme oxygenase are heat shock proteins, the mode of induction of mRNAs for these proteins is different.     

Two closely linked transcription units within the 63B heat shock puff locus of D. melanogaster display strikingly different regulation

We report the isolation and characterization of a cloned DNA of D. melanogaster, Dm4L, that is derived from the major heat shock puff site at 63B. This segment contains two closely linked genes that are each present once per Drosophila haploid genome. One of these, the hsp 83 gene, encodes an abundant heat shock mRNA that, unlike other major heat shock mRNAs, is also abundant in uninduced (23 degrees) kco cells. Although only a slight increase in the level of total hsp 83 RNA can be detected after heat shock in Kco cells, the level of hsp 83 poly(A)+ mRNA increases more than 6-fold and the level of pulse-labeled hsp 83 RNA in total cellular RNA increases 11-fold relative to uninduced cells. In contrast, the levels of total, poly(A)+, and pulse-labeled RNA homologous to the second gene, 63B-T2, are approximately the same in both induced and uninduced cells. Hence, even though these genes are separated by only one thousand base pairs, and, from in situ hybridization to polytene chromosomes, both lie within the heat shock puff, they display strikingly different regulatory properties, These results demonstrate that close linkage of a gene to a heat shock puff is not sufficient to render its expression heat inducible.