Two dominant inhibitory mutants of p21ras interfere with insulin-induced gene expression.

Insulin induces a rapid activation of p21ras in NIH 3T3 and Chinese hamster ovary cells that overexpress the insulin receptor. Previously, we suggested that p21ras may mediate insulin-induced gene expression. To test such a function of p21ras more directly, we studied the effect of different dominant inhibitory mutants of p21ras on the induction of gene expression in response to insulin. We transfected a collagenase promoter-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene or a fos promoter-luciferase gene into NIH 3T3 cells that overexpressed the insulin receptor. The activities of both promoters were strongly induced after treatment with insulin. This induction could be suppressed by cotransfection of two inhibitory mutant ras genes, H-ras(Asn-17) or H-ras(Leu-61,Ser-186). In particular, insulin-induced activation of the fos promoter was inhibited completely by H-ras(Asn-17). These results show that p21ras functions as an intermediate in the insulin signal transduction route leading to the induction of gene expression.     

Prophage Induction of Noninducible Coliphage 186

Coliphage 186 has been regarded as a member of the noninducible group of coliphages. Evidence that prophage 186 is induced by ultraviolet irradiation or by treatment with nalidixic acid or mitomycin C is now presented. The phage yields were similar to those from lysogens of the inducible phage lambda, and the induction required a recA(+) host. A noninducible mutant of 186 was isolated from its heat-inducible derivative, 186cIts, that was no longer inducible by ultraviolet irradiation but remained heat inducible. That zygotic induction of 186 after transfer from a lysogenic male to a non-lysogenic recipient did not occur is indicated by the following findings: (i) there was only a slight increase in phage titer; (ii) similar levels of recombinants were obtained for markers adjacent or distal to the phage integration site, whether the recipient was lysogenic or not, and there was no effect on the gradient of marker transfer; (iii) lysogenic recombinants were readily found and the co-transfer of 186 with adjacent markers was the same to lysogenic or non-lysogenic recipients. Thus, 186 formed an inducible prophage that did not display zygotic induction. Nevertheless, it shared many properties with the noninducible phage P2 as outlined in the discussion.     

miR-186-5p在酒精诱导的心肌细胞中高表达并通过靶基因XIAP调控细胞凋亡水平

目的:证实酒精可诱导AC16心肌细胞凋亡及其与酒精浓度和作用时间的关系,研究不同浓度酒精干预下AC16心肌细胞中miR-186-5p与X连锁凋亡抑制蛋白(XIAP)表达水平以及心肌细胞凋亡水平的改变,探究miR-186-5p以XIAP为靶基因调控酒精诱导的心肌细胞凋亡。方法:流式细胞术检测细胞凋亡水平,Western blot、实时定量PCR技术分别在蛋白质及基因水平检测细胞miR-186-5p与XIAP表达水平的变化,双萤光素酶报告基因靶基因荧光检测miR-186-5p与XIAP的靶际关系。结果:酒精诱导AC16心肌细胞发生凋亡,且与酒精浓度及作用时间呈正相关;酒精摄入上调AC16心肌细胞中miR-186-5p表达,下调XIAP表达; miR-186-5p参与酒精诱导的AC16心肌细胞凋亡过程,XIAP抑制酒精诱导的AC16心肌细胞凋亡; miR-186-5p以XIAP为靶基因调控酒精诱导的心肌细胞凋亡。结论:AC16心肌细胞经过酒精处理后,细胞的凋亡水平升高,并且随着酒精作用浓度和作用时间的延长,凋亡水平进一步升高;酒精处理后心肌细胞中miR-186-5p表达量上调,XIAP表达量下调,miR-186-5p以XIAP为靶基因,调控酒精处理后心肌细胞的凋亡。     

Genetic studies of coliphage 186. II. Genes associated with phage replication and host cell lysis

DNA synthesis in coliphage 186-infected cells was investigated. Phage 186 appeared to inhibit host DNA synthesis early in infection. The subsequent synthesis of phage 186 DNA was dependent on the product of 186 gene A. The product of gene B controlled both the production of late 186 proteins and the cessation of 186 DNA synthesis, and the products of genes O and P had no influence on 186 DNA synthesis. The product of gene P controlled host cell lysis, and the product of gene O may have some regulatory function.     

The structural basis of cooperative regulation at an alternate genetic switch

Bacteriophage lambda is a paradigm for understanding the role of cooperativity in gene regulation. Comparison of the regulatory regions of lambda and the unrelated temperate bacteriophage 186 provides insight into alternate ways to assemble functional genetic switches. The structure of the C-terminal domain of the 186 repressor, determined at 2.7 A resolution, reveals an unusual heptamer of dimers, consistent with presented genetic studies. In addition, the structure of a cooperativity mutant of the full-length 186 repressor, identified by genetic screens, was solved to 1.95 A resolution. These structures provide a molecular basis for understanding lysogenic regulation in 186. Whereas the overall fold of the 186 and lambda repressor monomers is remarkably similar, the way the two repressors cooperatively assemble is quite different and explains in part the differences in their regulatory activity.     

T-box binding protein type two (TBX2) is an immediate early gene target in retinoic-acid-treated B16 murine melanoma cells

Retinoic acid induces growth arrest and differentiation in B16 mouse melanoma cells. Using gene arrays, we identified several early response genes whose expression is altered by retinoic acid. One of the genes, tbx2, is a member of T-box nuclear binding proteins that are important morphogens in developing embryos. Increased TBX2 mRNA is seen within 2 h after addition of retinoic acid to B16 cells. The effect of retinoic acid on gene expression is direct since it does not require any new protein synthesis. We identified a degenerate retinoic acid response element (RARE) between -186 and -163 in the promoter region of the tbx2 gene. A synthetic oligonucleotide spanning this region was able to drive increased expression of a luciferase reporter gene in response to retinoic acid; however, this induction was lost when a point mutation was introduced into the RARE. This oligonucleotide also specifically bound RAR in nuclear extracts from B16 cells. TBX2 expression and its induction by retinoic acid was also observed in normal human and nonmalignant mouse melanocytes.     

DNA replication studies with coliphage 186: the involvement of the Escherichia coli DnaA protein in 186 replication is indirect.

The inability of coliphage 186 to infect productively a dnaA(Ts) mutant at a restrictive temperature was confirmed. However, the requirement by 186 for DnaA is indirect, since 186 can successfully infect suppressed dnaA (null) strains. The block to 186 infection of a dnaA(Ts) strain at a restrictive temperature is at the level of replication but incompletely so, since some 20% of the phage specific replication seen with infection of a dnaA+ host does occur. A mutant screen, to isolate host mutants blocked in 186-specific replication but not in the replication of the close relative coliphage P2, which has no DnaA requirement, yielded a mutant whose locus we mapped to the rep gene. A 186 mutant able to infect this rep mutant was isolated, and the mutation was located in the phage replication initiation endonuclease gene A, suggesting direct interaction between the Rep helicase and phage endonuclease during replication. DNA sequencing indicated a glutamic acid-to-valine change at residue 155 of the 694-residue product of gene A. In the discussion, we speculate that the indirect need of DnaA function is at the level of lagging-strand synthesis in the rolling circle replication of 186.     

DNA replication studies with coliphage 186. III. A single phage gene is required for phage 186 replication

We have shown that the BglII to BamHI (79.6% to 95.8%) region of the coliphage 186 chromosome can direct 186-specific replication. DNA sequencing of the region revealed five presumptive genes, CP80, CP81, CP83, CP84 and CP87. Surprisingly, alleles of the previously defined replication gene, A, were localized in both CP84 and CP87. We have successfully constructed a 186 minichromosome using the single gene CP87, and determined that CP84 was not concerned with replication, neither of a minichromosome nor of the phage. Rather, the replication defect seen with amber mutants of CP84 reflects a polarity effect on the downstream expression of CP87. We have concluded that CP87 is the only phage gene necessary for 186 replication, and have called it gene A.     

Encapsidation of turnip crinkle virus is defined by a specific packaging signal and RNA size.

A protoplast infection assay has been used to reliably examine the viral RNA encapsidation of turnip crinkle virus (TCV). Analysis of the encapsidation of various mutant viral RNAs revealed that a 186-nucleotide (nt) region at the 3' end of the coat protein (CP) gene, with a bulged hairpin loop of 28 nt as its most essential element, was indispensable for TCV RNA encapsidation. When RNA fragments containing the 186-nt region were used to replace the CP gene of a different virus, tomato bushy stunt virus, the resulting chimeric viral RNAs were encapsidated into TCV virions. Furthermore, analysis of the encapsidated chimeric RNA species established that the RNA size was an important determinant of the TCV assembly process.     

Differential signaling by insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS-1) and IRS-2 in IRS-1-deficient cells.

Mice made insulin receptor substrate 1 (IRS-1) deficient by targeted gene knockout exhibit growth retardation and abnormal glucose metabolism due to resistance to the actions of insulin-like growth factor 1 (IGF-1) and insulin (E. Araki et al., Nature 372:186-190, 1994; H. Tamemoto et al., Nature 372:182-186, 1994). Embryonic fibroblasts and 3T3 cell lines derived from IRS-1-deficient embryos exhibit no IGF-1-stimulated IRS-1 phosphorylation or IRS-1-associated phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI 3-kinase) activity but exhibit normal phosphorylation of IRS-2 and Shc and normal IRS-2-associated PI 3-kinase activity. IRS-1 deficiency results in a 70 to 80% reduction in IGF-1-stimulated cell growth and parallel decreases in IGF-1-stimulated S-phase entry, PI 3-kinase activity, and induction of the immediate-early genes c-fos and egr-1 but unaltered activation of the mitogen-activated protein kinases ERK 1 and ERK 2. Expression of IRS-1 in IRS-1-deficient cells by retroviral gene transduction restores IGF-1-stimulated mitogenesis, PI 3-kinase activation, and c-fos and egr-1 induction in proportion to the level of reconstitution. Increasing the level of IRS-2 in these cells by using a retrovirus reconstitutes IGF-1 activation of PI 3-kinase and immediate-early gene expression to the same degree as expression of IRS-1; however, IRS-2 overexpression has only a minor effect on IGF-1 stimulation of cell cycle progression. These results indicate that IRS-1 is not necessary for activation of ERK 1 and ERK 2 and that activation of ERK 1 and ERK 2 is not sufficient for IGF-1-stimulated activation of c-fos and egr-1. These data also provide evidence that IRS-1 and IRS-2 are not functionally interchangeable signaling intermediates for stimulation of mitogenesis despite their highly conserved structure and many common functions such as activating PI 3-kinase and early gene expression.     

Cloning and characterization of the DNA region responsible for Megacin A-216 production in Bacillus megaterium 216

Upon induction, Bacillus megaterium 216 produces the bacteriocin megacin A-216, which leads to lysis of the producer cell and kills B. megaterium and a few other bacterial species. The DNA region responsible for megacinogeny was cloned in B. megaterium. The nucleotide sequence of a 5,494-bp-long subfragment was determined, and the function of the genes on this fragment was studied by generating deletions and analyzing their effects on MegA phenotypes. An open reading frame (ORF) encoding a 293-amino-acid protein was identified as the gene (megA) coding for megacin A-216. BLAST searches detected sequence similarity between megacin A-216 and proteins with phospholipase A2 activity. Purified biologically active megacin A-216 preparations contained three proteins. Mass spectrometry analysis showed that the largest protein is the full-length translation product of the megA gene, whereas the two shorter proteins are fragments of the long protein created by cleavage between Gln-185 and Val-186. The molecular masses of the three polypeptides are 32,855, 21,018, and 11,855 Da, respectively. Comparison of different megacin preparations suggests that the intact chain as well as the two combined fragments can form biologically active megacin. An ORF located next to the megA gene and encoding a 91-amino-acid protein was shown to be responsible for the relative immunity displayed by the producer strain against megacin A-216. Besides the megA gene, at least two other genes, including a gene encoding a 188-amino-acid protein sharing high sequence similarity with RNA polymerase sigma factors, were shown to be required for induction of megacin A-216 expression.     

Integration Site of Noninducible Coliphage 186

From conjugational data, the attachment site for noninducible coliphage 186 (att186) was located between the origins of Hfr strains KL16 and KL98, and close to the pheA gene in Escherichia coli K-12. P1 transductions indicated that att186 lies at 51 min on the standard genetic map of E. coli, with the order cysC-nalB-att186-pheA. The presence of prophage 186 in the donor destroyed linkage between nalB and pheA, which is taken as evidence for the integration of the 186 prophage between these genes.     

Solubility Analysis,Cloning and Functional Overexpression of the Lipase from <Emphasis Type="Italic">Aneurinibacillus thermoaerophilus</Emphasis> strain HZ,the First Member of True Lipases Subfamily I.9

Lipase from Aneurinibacillus thermoaerophilus strain HZ (HZ lipase) represents the first member of subfamily I.9 true lipases. The resultant of unique characteristics and structural features of HZ lipase has affirmed that subfamily I.9 is located between mesophilic and thermostable lipases. In advance to clone and express the HZ lipase gene, protein solubility of fusion HZ lipase was predicted and analyzed using different software. Then, to overexpress the target gene, high-level expression was performed in a prokaryotic system using different strains and vectors, and production conditions were optimized. HZ lipase was expressed under the control of strong and chemically inducible T7 promoter for high-level expression. It was fused to Trx-, His- and S-tags to solubilize the protein and also to specify and accelerate the purification procedure. The high amount of the HZ lipase protein was obtained as the soluble form (72.5 U/mL) using IPTG final concentration of 0.025 mM after 8 h induction at 30ºC. The expression was analyzed by SDS-PAGE and presence of His-tag was confirmed by Western blotting of protein. As the HZ lipase is the only member of subfamily I.9 that yet cloned and overexpressed, this procedure could be applied to the other close members.