Molecular mechanism of cell proliferation in rodent uterus during the estrous cycle

The rodent uterus is a widely studied target tissue for sexual steroid hormone action. The aim of the present study was to assess the molecular mechanism that participates in the initiation of cell proliferation of the rat uterine epithelial cells during the estrus (E)–metestrus (M) transition. Cell proliferation, ERα, c-fos, cyclin D1 and D3, cdk4, and cdk6 proteins were assessed in these animals by immunohistochemistry. Estradiol (E₂) and progesterone (P₄) plasma levels were assessed by RIA. The results indicate that the glandular epithelium starts to proliferate at 21:00 h on estrus day, and initiates at least 3 h before the luminal epithelium does. Fos expression was markedly increased during the afternoon of estrus day, and its increase was in parallel to ERα expression. Interestingly, both, cyclin D1 and D3 were abundantly expressed in the luminal and glandular epithelia, and nuclear immunolabelling of cyclin D1 and D3 precedes BrdU incorporation in the cell. cdk4 and cdk6 were localized in the nuclei in both epithelia throughout the studied time course. In addition, cdk4 was more abundant throughout estrus and metestrus days than cdk6. The overall results indicate that ERα, Fos and cyclins D1 and D3, cdk4 and cdk6 are expressed in both glandular and luminal epithelia of the rat uterus during the E–M transition. In conclusion, there is a good correlation between sequential expression of these proteins and cell cycle progression in the rat uterine epithelial cells during the estrous cycle. However, the differences observed in the cellular localization, time course of expression and the cellular types that express both cyclins between physiological and pharmacological conditions, demonstrated different mechanisms of regulation and should be due to the complex hormonal milieu during the estrous cycle.     

Connexin 32 down-regulates the fibrinolytic factors in metastatic renal cell carcinoma cells

Fibrinolytic factors have an important role in tumor progression through the degradation of extracellular matrix. The increased levels of urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA), uPA-receptor (uPAR) and type-1 PA inhibitor (PAI-1) are reported in human renal cell carcinoma (RCC). Connexin (Cx) gene, a member of gap junction, is known to act as a tumor suppressor gene. We have reported that Cx32 improves malignant phenotypes of metastatic RCC cells via the inhibition of Src-dependent signaling. In this study, we examined the effect of expression of Cx32 gene on the production of uPA, uPAR and PAI-1, and on the induction of PAI-1 stimulated by hypoxia in a human metastatic RCC cell line, Caki-1 cells. Cx32 expression decreased both mRNA level and production of PAI-1, uPA and uPAR in Caki-1 cells. Cx32 also decreased hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF)-1alpha and HIF-2alpha mRNA level. PP1, a Src inhibitor, significantly decreased PAI-1, uPA, uPAR and HIF-alpha mRNA levels in Caki-1 cells. Furthermore, Cx32 suppressed the induction of HIF-2alpha protein in Caki-1 cells under hypoxia. PAI-1 mRNA level in Cx32-transfected Caki-1 cells was lower than that of mock transfectant under hypoxic conditions. These results suggest that Cx32 might reduce PAI-1, uPA and uPAR production in metastatic RCC cells via the inhibition of Src-dependent induction of HIF-1alpha and HIF-2alpha gene expression and that Cx32 might suppress hypoxia-inducible gene expression under hypoxic conditions.     

Intracellular cholesterol mobilization involved in the ABCA1/apolipoprotein-mediated assembly of high density lipoprotein in fibroblasts

Differential regulation has been suggested for cellular cholesterol and phospholipid release mediated by apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I)/ABCA1. We investigated various factors involved in cholesterol mobilization related to this pathway. ApoA-I induced a rapid decrease of the cellular cholesterol compartment that is in equilibrium with the ACAT-accessible pool in cells that generate cholesterol-rich HDL. Pharmacological and genetic inactivation of ACAT enhanced the apoA-I-mediated cholesterol release through upregulation of ABCA1 and through cholesterol enrichment in the HDL generated. Pharmacological activation of protein kinase C (PKC) also decreased the ACAT-accessible cholesterol pool, not only in the cells that produce cholesterol-rich HDL by apoA-I (i.e., human fibroblast WI-38 cells) but also in the cells that generate cholesterol-poor HDL (mouse fibroblast L929 cells). In L929 cells, the PKC activation caused an increase in apoA-I-mediated cholesterol release without detectable change in phospholipid release and in ABCA1 expression. These results indicate that apoA-I mobilizes intracellular cholesterol for the ABCA1-mediated release from the compartment that is under the control of ACAT. The cholesterol mobilization process is presumably related to PKC activation by apoA-I.     

Development and polymorphism of simple sequence repeat DNA markers for Kandelia candel (L.) Druce

Microsatellite markers of Kandelia candel were developed. Forty‐nine clones yielded strong positive signals among 331 clones hybridized to repetitive sequence probes. Primer pairs were designed for 19 of these positive clones according to their sequence data. Five of the primer pairs showed polymorphism for 16 individuals from Amami‐O‐Shima Island, Japan. Three to nine alleles per locus were detected, and the observed heterozygosities ranged from 0.250 to 0.938. Because our previous study reported very low level of genetic diversity for allozymes in the same Amami population, these microsatellite markers should be powerful tools for the analysis of genetic structure.     

Microbial production of cis,cis-muconic acid from benzoic acid

Summary The authors isolated numerous microorganisms with the capacity to assimilate large amounts of benzoate from many soil samples. Several of them were selected and subjected to mutation mainly by ultraviolet irradiation. One mutant lacking active muconate-lactonizing enzyme, the parent strain of which was identified as belonging to the genus Arthrobacter, was isolated and found to be capable of producing cis, cis-muconic acid with a quantitative yield of 44.1 g/l over 48 h in a 30 1 jar fermentor by successive feeding of small amounts of benzoate. This mutant, however, was more sensitive to high concentrations of the substrate than the parent strain. As few intermediates and isomers other than cis, cis-muconic acid were accumulated in the large fermentor, a large amount of pure cis, cis-muconic acid was easily obtained from the broth by salting out and recrystallization at a high recovery rate.     

Two genes for the high mobility group protein HMG-Y are present in the genome of Canavalia gladiata D.C.

Two cDNAs encoding high-mobility-group (HMG) proteins that correspond to animal HMG-Y proteins were isolated from maturing seeds of Canavalia gladiata D.C. The deduced amino acid sequences of these cDNAs showed similarity to other plant HMG-I/Y proteins reported to date. The mRNAs for the HMG-Y proteins were detected in leaves, stems, roots, pods and seeds of C. gladiata. The level of the mRNA was high in the maturing seeds of 30 days after flowering and 2-day germinated seeds. Two genomic clones were isolated from DNA of C. gladiata and both were shown to represent single-copy genes consisting of two exons and one intron. This is the first report of the genomic sequences for HMG-I/Y protein in plants.