Hairless and Wnt Signaling: Allies in Epithelial Stem Cell Differentiation

Nuclear receptors and Wnt signaling are both important regulators of developmental and physiological processes. Recent work linking these pathways in epithelial stem cell differentiation has come from studies analyzing the in vivo function of the nuclear receptor corepressor, Hairless (HR). The HR protein has long been suspected to regulate a stem cell-mediated process, hair cycling, as mutations in the Hr gene cause hair loss in both mice and men. The discovery that the HR protein is a nuclear receptor corepressor indicated that HR function in hair cycling is by regulating gene expression. A recent study revealed that HR represses expression of Wise, an inhibitor of Wnt signaling, leading to a model in which HR controls the timing of Wnt signaling required for hair cycling. Here we review these data, and provide new data showing that HR corepressor activity is essential for its in vivo function, and identify an additional putative Wnt inhibitor regulated by HR. This work complements previous studies demonstrating the role of Wnt signaling in epithelial stem cell differentiation.     

A unique insertion/duplication in the VDR gene that truncates the VDR causing hereditary 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D-resistant rickets without alopecia

Hereditary vitamin D resistant rickets (HVDRR) is caused by mutations in the vitamin D receptor (VDR). Here we describe a patient with HVDRR who also exhibited some hypotrichosis of the scalp but otherwise had normal hair and skin. A 102 bp insertion/duplication was found in the VDR gene that introduced a premature stop (Y401X). The patient's fibroblasts expressed the truncated VDR, but were resistant to 1,25(OH)2D3. The truncated VDR weakly bound [3H]-1,25(OH)2D3 but was able to heterodimerize with RXR, bind to DNA and interact with the corepressor hairless (HR). However, the truncated VDR failed to bind coactivators and was transactivation defective. Since the patient did not have alopecia or papular lesions of the skin generally found in patients with premature stop mutations this suggests that this distally truncated VDR can still regulate the hair cycle and epidermal differentiation possibly through its interactions with RXR and HR to suppress gene transactivation.     

昆明小鼠无毛基因cDNA全长序列的分子克隆

无毛基因是与皮肤和被毛结构有重要关联的核受体基因,编码一个锌指结构转录因子,是甲状腺激素受体的转录辅阻遏物,并参与毛发生长周期的调控,在维持毛囊及毛囊间上皮的增殖、分化、调亡的精致平衡中扮演重要角色。参考小鼠、人的无毛基因序列,用RT-PCR方法首次对昆明小鼠无毛基因的cDNA序列进行了克隆,获得了昆明小鼠无毛基因的全长4 014 bp cDNA序列（GenBank 登录号：AY547391）,基因的CDS长度为3 546 bp。AY547391基因编码的蛋白质在GenBank中的序号为AAT45233,由1181个氨基酸组成。昆明小鼠与国外报导的小鼠、大鼠、猪、羊、猴、人等6种动物CDS 序列同源性分别为99.9%、94.4%、83.1%、78.1%、81.9%、82.1%,氨基酸同源性分别是99.9%、92.2%、81.7%、 70.8%、 79.9%、 80.1% 。这一结果反应了无毛基因在进化过程的高度保守性。通过Blast比较昆明小鼠无毛基因与GenBank 数据库中收集的Hr 基因的mRNA,发现了4个SNP和一个缺失突变,其中3个位点没有改变氨基酸残基的性质,两个位点有氨基酸改变并证实为多态性突变位点,研究结果为无毛基因的SNPs的数据库提供了新的信息。     

Corepressor binding to progesterone and glucocorticoid receptors involves the activation function-1 domain and is inhibited by molybdate

Corepressors are known to interact via their receptor interaction domains (RIDs) with the ligand binding domain in the carboxyl terminal half of steroid/nuclear receptors. We now report that a portion of the activation function-1 domain of glucocorticoid receptors (GRs) and progesterone receptors (PRs), which is the major transactivation sequence, is necessary but not sufficient for corepressor [nuclear receptor corepressor (NCoR) and silencing mediator of retinoid and thyroid hormone receptor (SMRT)] RID binding to GRs and PRs in both mammalian two-hybrid and coimmunoprecipitation assays. Importantly, these two receptor sequences are functionally interchangeable in the context of GR for transactivation, corepressor binding, and corepressor modulatory activity assays. This suggests that corepressors may act in part by physically blocking portions of receptor activation function-1 domains. However, differences exist in corepressor binding to GRs and PRs. The C-terminal domain of PRs has a higher affinity for corepressor than that of GRs. The ability of some segments of the coactivator TIF2 to competitively inhibit corepressor binding to receptors is different for GRs and PRs. With each receptor, the cell-free binding of corepressors to ligand-free receptor is prevented by sodium molybdate, which is a well-known inhibitor of receptor activation to the DNA-binding state. This suggests that receptor activation precedes binding to corepressors. Collectively, these results indicate that corepressor binding to GRs and PRs involve both N- and C-terminal sequences of activated receptors but differ in ways that may contribute to the unique biological responses of each receptor in intact cells.     

Culture serum-induced conversion from agonist to antagonist of a Vitamin D analog, TEI-9647

The nuclear receptor for Vitamin D (VDR) mediates many of the effects of Vitamin D in target tissues by regulating gene expression. The transactivation function of ligand-bound VDR in target tissues is thought to depend on the tissue-type and the cellular-environment, but the molecular basis for these differences has not been fully understood. In this study, during characterization of TEI-9647 as a synthetic ligand for the VDR, we found that depletion of serum from the culture medium converted TEI-9647 from an antagonist to an agonist of VDR-mediated transactivation, whereas it retained antagonistic activity in the presence of serum. Consistent with these results, using a mammalian two-hybrid system, we found that TEI-9647 recruited different coactivators to the VDR in the presence and absence of serum. These findings suggest that an unknown serum factor modulates the transactivation function of the VDR.