人组织型纤溶酶原激活剂(t-PA)mRNA5′端非翻译区(UTR)对其表达的调控

运用反转录-PCR技术,从黑色素瘤细胞中扩增出t—PA cDNA 5′末端460bp的片段,再经重组获得含完整5′-UTR的t—PA cDNA克隆,在兔网织红细胞裂解物中翻译和COS-7细胞中表达发现,t—PA mRNA 5′—UTR对其表达有明显的抑制作用。将t—PA mRNA 5′—UTR用苜蓿病毒RNA 5′—UTR替换,使t—PA的表达水平提高3-7倍,mRNA翻译起始区二级结构分析结果表明,翻译起始区的二级结构与t-PA的表达水平有关。     

Gene expression profile of human bone marrow stromal cells: high-throughput expressed sequence tag sequencing analysis

Human bone marrow stromal cells (HBMSC) are pluripotent cells with the potential to differentiate into osteoblasts, chondrocytes, myelosupportive stroma, and marrow adipocytes. We used high-throughput DNA sequencing analysis to generate 4258 single-pass sequencing reactions (known as expressed sequence tags, or ESTs) obtained from the 5' (97) and 3' (4161) ends of human cDNA clones from a HBMSC cDNA library. Our goal was to obtain tag sequences from the maximum number of possible genes and to deposit them in the publicly accessible database for ESTs (dbEST of the National Center for Biotechnology Information). Comparisons of our EST sequencing data with nonredundant human mRNA and protein databases showed that the ESTs represent 1860 gene clusters. The EST sequencing data analysis showed 60 novel genes found only in this cDNA library after BLAST analysis against 3.0 million ESTs in NCBI's dbEST database. The BLAST search also showed the identified ESTs that have close homology to known genes, which suggests that these may be newly recognized members of known gene families. The gene expression profile of this cell type is revealed by analyzing both the frequency with which a message is encountered and the functional categorization of expressed sequences. Comparing an EST sequence with the human genomic sequence database enables assignment of an EST to a specific chromosomal region (a process called digital gene localization) and often enables immediate partial determination of intron/exon boundaries within the genomic structure. It is expected that high-throughput EST sequencing and data mining analysis will greatly promote our understanding of gene expression in these cells and of growth and development of the skeleton.     

Isolation and characterization of expressible cDNA clones for mouse Thy-1: a model system for cDNA expression of cell surface proteins

By using the mouse Thy-1 gene as a model, we have developed a procedure to distinguish functional vs nonfunctional cDNA of lymphocyte surface antigens by transfecting COS-7 monkey cells and testing for expression of cell surface products encoded by the cDNA inserts. By cross-hybridization with a mouse Thy-1 probe, we isolated cDNA clones from a pcD-expression library prepared from mRNA of C5 cells. Two functional clones were distinguished from the remainder by detection of Thy-1.2 on the surface of 0.5% of COS-7 cells transiently transfected by the DEAE-Dextran method. Inclusion of chloroquine in the transfection procedure greatly facilitated the detection of functional cDNA by raising the percentage of expressing cells to 30%. Nucleotide sequencing of one functional cDNA, about 1700 bp long, confirmed that the gene encodes a protein whose sequence agrees with the published Thy-1.2 protein sequence with the additional 31 amino acids attached at the COOH-terminus. A 75 bp 5' untranslated region preceding the coding region contains 50 bp not found in the genomic clones. Comparison indicates that one or more introns are present in the 5' untranslated region, but are not found in the mature mRNA. The first exon may be separated by at least 1 kb intron from the initiation codon. Because the expressible clones are approximately the size of the mRNA seen on Northern blots, we believe that these clones are nearly full-length cDNA. Dilution experiments indicate that this strategy should also be useful for identifying functional cDNA clones for cell surface proteins solely on the basis of their expression in mammalian cells.