Expression of a Truncated Brca1 Protein Delays Lactational Mammary Development in Transgenic Mice

To address the hypothesis that certain disease-associated mutants of the breast-ovarian cancer susceptibility gene BRCA1 have biological activity in vivo, we have expressed a truncated Brca1 protein (trBrca1) in cell-lines and in the mammary gland of transgenic mice. Immunofluorescent analysis of transfected cell-lines indicates that trBRCA1 is a stable protein and that it is localized in the cell cytoplasm. Functional analysis of these cell-lines indicates that expression of trBRCA1 confers an increased radiosensitivity phenotype on mammary epithelial cells, consistent with abrogation of the BRCA1 pathway. MMTV-trBrca1 transgenic mice from two independent lines displayed a delay in lactational mammary gland development, as demonstrated by altered histological profiles of lobuloalveolar structures. Cellular and molecular analyses indicate that this phenotype results from a defect in differentiation, rather than altered rates of proliferation or apoptosis. The results presented in this paper are consistent with trBrca1 possessing dominant-negative activity and playing an important role in regulating normal mammary development. They may also have implications for germline carriers of BRCA1 mutations.     

Missense Mutation in the Chlamydomonas Chloroplast Gene that Encodes the Rubisco Large Subunit

The 69-12Q mutant of Chlamydomonas reinhardtii lacks ribulose-1,5-bisphosphate carboxylase activity, but retains holoenzyme protein. It results from a mutation in the chloroplast large-subunit gene that causes an isoleucine-for-threonine substitution at amino-acid residue 173. Considering that lysine-175 is involved in catalysis, it appears that mutations cluster at the active site.     

The Drosophila Meiotic Recombination Gene Mei-9 Encodes a Homologue of the Yeast Excision Repair Protein Rad1

Meiotic recombination and DNA repair are mediated by overlapping sets of genes. In the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, many genes required to repair DNA double-strand breaks are also required for meiotic recombination. In contrast, mutations in genes required for nucleotide excision repair (NER) have no detectable effects on meiotic recombination in S. cerevisiae. The Drosophila melanogaster mei-9 gene is unique among known recombination genes in that it is required for both meiotic recombination and NER. We have analyzed the mei-9 gene at the molecular level and found that it encodes a homologue of the S. cerevisiae excision repair protein Rad1, the probable homologue of mammalian XPF/ERCC4. Hence, the predominant process of meiotic recombination in Drosophila proceeds through a pathway that is at least partially distinct from that of S. cerevisiae, in that it requires an NER protein. The biochemical properties of the Rad1 protein allow us to explain the observation that mei-9 mutants suppress reciprocal exchange without suppressing the frequency of gene conversion.     

离心力和剪应力应答蛋白1是肿瘤坏死因子受体1的新调控因子

离心力和剪应力应答基因1(responsive to centrifugal force and shear stress gene 1,RECS1)被剔除的小鼠易患囊性内侧坏死和动脉扩张症,伴随着血管组织基质金属蛋白酶9表达水平的增强.本室前期研究发现,稳定表达RECS1的小鼠成纤维细胞对肿瘤坏死因子受体2激动性抗体的敏感性被明显弱化,显示RECS1参与肿瘤坏死因子信号的调控.本文研究了RECS1对肿瘤坏死因子受体1（tumor necrosis factor receptor-1, TNFR1）的调控作用.结果显示,RECS1结合TNFR1,并抑制过量表达TNFR1诱导的核转录因子-κB (NF-κB)活化.缺失突变研究发现,RECS1分子上有NPLY和SPEDY两个模体是其抑制TNFR1信号所必需的.免疫共沉淀实验发现,NPLY是RECS1与TNFR1结合所必需的.而SPEDY的缺失不影响RECS1与TNFR1的结合.另外,免疫共染色实验显示,RECS1与TNFR1共定位于细胞内核体.这些实验结果进一步揭示了RECS1负调控肿瘤坏死因子-α(tumor necrosis factor-α, TNF-α)信号进而参与调控血管发育与重塑的生物功能及可能机理.     

紫外线强烈诱导的谷胱甘肽转移酶基因的功能鉴定

植物谷胱甘肽转移酶（glutathione S-transferases,GSTs)基因家族在逆境反应和植物生长发育过程中都起着非常重要的作用。为了阐明GST在紫外辐射下是否对植物有保护作用,以紫外强烈诱导表达的GST、cDNA为探针,筛选拟南芥cDNA文库,获得了这种GST的全长cDNA;利用此cDNA构建植物表达载体,并通过农杆菌介导法转化拟南芬,使其在拟南芥中得到大量表达;通过对转基因植株的紫外辐射耐性分析,证实了该GST的过量表达可明显增强拟南芥对紫外辐射损伤作用的耐受性。     

Osmoregulation and Fungicide Resistance: the Neurospora crassa os-2 Gene Encodes a HOG1 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Homologue

Neurospora crassa osmosensitive (os) mutants are sensitive to high osmolarity and therefore are unable to grow on medium containing 4% NaCl. We found that os-2 and os-5 mutants were resistant to the phenylpyrrole fungicides fludioxonil and fenpiclonil. To understand the relationship between osmoregulation and fungicide resistance, we cloned the os-2 gene by using sib selection. os-2 encodes a putative mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase homologous to HOG1 and can complement the osmosensitive phenotype of a Saccharomyces cerevisiae hog1 mutant. We sequenced three os-2 alleles and found that all of them were null with either frameshift or nonsense point mutations. An os-2 gene replacement mutant also was generated and was sensitive to high osmolarity and resistant to phenylpyrrole fungicides. Conversely, os-2 mutants transformed with the wild-type os-2 gene could grow on media containing 4% NaCl and were sensitive to phenylpyrrole fungicides. Fludioxonil stimulated intracellular glycerol accumulation in wild-type strains but not in os-2 mutants. Fludioxonil also caused wild-type conidia and hyphal cells to swell and burst. These results suggest that the hyperosmotic stress response pathway of N. crassa is the target of phenylpyrrole fungicides and that fungicidal effects may result from a hyperactive os-2 MAP kinase pathway.     

The Gene Mutated in Variant Late-Infantile Neuronal Ceroid Lipofuscinosis (CLN6) and in nclf Mutant Mice Encodes a Novel Predicted Transmembrane Protein

The neuronal ceroid lipofuscinoses (NCLs) are a group of autosomal recessive neurodegenerative diseases characterized by the accumulation of autofluorescent lipopigment in various tissues and by progressive cell death in the brain and retina. The gene for variant late-infantile NCL (vLINCL), CLN6, was previously mapped to chromosome 15q21-23 and is predicted to be orthologous to the genes underlying NCL in nclf mice and in South Hampshire and Merino sheep. The gene underlying this disease has been identified with six different mutations found in affected patients and with a 1-bp insertion in the orthologous Cln6 gene in the nclf mouse. CLN6 encodes a novel 311-amino acid protein with seven predicted transmembrane domains, is conserved across vertebrates and has no homologies with proteins of known function. One vLINCL mutation, affecting a conserved amino acid residue within the predicted third hydrophilic loop of the protein, has been identified, suggesting that this domain may play an important functional role.     

Overexpression of a Gene That Encodes the First Enzyme in the Biosynthesis of Asparagine-Linked Glycans Makes Plants Resistant to Tunicamycin and Obviates the Tunicamycin-Induced Unfolded Protein Response

The cytotoxic drug tunicamycin kills cells because it is a specific inhibitor of UDP-N-acetylglucosamine:dolichol phosphate N-acetylglucosamine-1-P transferase (GPT), an enzyme that catalyzes the initial step of the biosynthesis of dolichol-linked oligosaccharides. In the presence of tunicamycin, asparagine-linked glycoproteins made in the endoplasmic reticulum are not glycosylated with N-linked glycans, and therefore may not fold correctly. Such proteins may be targeted for breakdown. Cells that are treated with tunicamycin normally experience an unfolded protein response and induce genes that encode endoplasmic reticulum chaperones such as the binding protein (BiP). We isolated a cDNA clone for Arabidopsis GPT and overexpressed it in Arabidopsis. The transgenic plants have a 10-fold higher level of GPT activity and are resistant to 1 microg/mL tunicamycin, a concentration that kills control plants. Transgenic plants grown in the presence of tunicamycin have N-glycosylated proteins and the drug does not induce BiP mRNA levels as it does in control plants. BiP mRNA levels are highly induced in both control and GPT-expressing plants by azetidine-2-carboxylate. These observations suggest that excess GPT activity obviates the normal unfolded protein response that cells experience when exposed to tunicamycin.