• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
• /
• v.23 no.12
• /
• pp.1785-1790
• /
• 2013

The synthetic machinery of ATF4 (activating transcription factor 4) is activated in response to various stress conditions involved in nutrient restriction, endoplasmic reticulum homeostasis, and oxidation. Stress-induced inhibition of proteasome activity triggers the unfolded protein response and endoplasmic reticulum stress, where ATF4 is crucial for consequent biological events. In the current study, we showed that the $NAD^+$-dependent deacetylase, SIRT1, suppresses ATF4 synthesis during proteasome inhibition. SIRT1 depletion via transfection of specific siRNA into HeLa cells resulted in a significant increase in ATF4 protein, which was observed specifically in the presence of the proteasome inhibitor MG132. Consistent with SIRT1 depletion data, transient transfection of cells with SIRT1-overexpressing plasmid induced a decrease in the ATF4 protein level in the presence of MG132. Interestingly, however, ATF4 mRNA was not affected by SIRT1, even in the presence of MG132, indicating that SIRT1-induced suppression of ATF4 synthesis occurs under post-transcriptional control. Accordingly, we propose that SIRT1 serves as a negative regulator of ATF4 protein synthesis at the post-transcriptional level, which is observed during stress conditions, such as proteasome inhibition.

• Journal of Life Science
• /
• v.25 no.12
• /
• pp.1439-1444
• /
• 2015

Steroid receptor coactivators (SRC) are transcriptional coactivators. Among SRCs, SRC-3 is the most studied in relation to different types of tumors. However, the role of SRC-3 in early lung development and lung cancer has not been well studied. The expression profiles of SRC-3 showed that SRC-3 contributed to bronchial and alveolar development in embryonic lung development. SRC-3 was strongly expressed in Clara cells and type II alveolar cells during fetal lung development (E17.5- E18.5), and SRC-3 was expressed in both cell types in the adult lung. TTF-1 was expressed in the lungs of heterozygote SRC-3 mice and Clara cell-specific-CCSP-TAg tumor mice, along with SRC-3 expression. The expression of TTF-1 was localized at transformed Clara cells and multifocal adenocarcinomas in lung cancer mice. However, SRC-3 was not expressed in the multifocal adenocarcinomas, suggesting that SRC-3 might not be involved in the invasiveness of lung cancer. Cotransfection of TTF-1 in Clara cell-specific mtCC cell lines resulted in significant activation of CCSP expression. However, cotransfection of SRC-3 had no significant effects on transient transfection. These in vivo and in vitro results suggest that SRC-3 does not play a significant role in lung tumor progression. In conclusion, SRC-3 is involved in bronchial and alveolar development in fetal and adult lungs, but it does not play an important role in the progression of Clara cell-derived lung cancer.

• The Journal of Korean Society of Virology
• /
• v.29 no.2
• /
• pp.129-136
• /
• 1999

Transient transfection assay has been done to evaluate whether the c-jun activation would be prerequisite to the induction of permissiveness against human cytomegalovirus using in vitro cell model in which U937 has been induced to express CD11b and CD14 to become potential monocyte/macrophage cells by TPA treatment. U937 cells were treated with $10\;{\mu}M$, $50\;{\mu}M$ or $100\;{\mu}M$ of TPA. The cell morphology change was observed and the expression of the CD11b and CD14 was confirmed by FACS. Differentiated cells were transfected with pJLuc reporter vector which contained the wild type murine c-jun promoter spanning the SP1, CTF, ATF/CREB and MEF-2 binding sites upstream of the firefly luciferase gene. After 48 hrs of transfection, the cells were infected with HCMV Towne strain and the luciferase activity was assessed at 1 hand 4 h pi. The transfection assay showed no activation of the c-jun promoter at 1 h pi, instead, it showed 2 times increase of the its activity at 4 h pi. There was no difference of the c-jun promoter activation between TPA treated and untreated U937 cells, implying that c-jun activation might not be prerequisite for allowing cells to be premissive to HCMV, although HCMV infection itself could activate c-jun promoter.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Applied Pharmacology
• /
• 1994.04a
• /
• pp.178-178
• /
• 1994

Hepatitis B Virus (HBV) is a DNA virus with a 3.2kb partially double-stranded genome. The life cycle of the virus involves a reverse transcription of the greater than genome length 3.5kb mRNA. This pegenomic RNA contains all the genetic information encoded by the virus and functions as an intermediate in viral replication. Tumor suppressor p53 has previously been shown to interact with the X-gene product of the HBV, which led us to hypothesize that p53 may act as a negative regulator of HBV replication and the role of the X-gene product is to overcome the p53-mediated restriction. As a first step to prove the above hypothesis, we tested whether p53 represses the propagation of HBV in in vitro replication system. By transient cotransfection of the plasmid containing a complete copy of the HBV genome and/or the plasmid encoding p53, we found that the replication of HBV is specifically blocked by wild-type p53. The levels of HBV DNA, HBs Ag and HBc/e Ag secreted in cell culture media were dramatically reduced upon coexpresion of wild-type p53 but not by the coexpression of the mutants of p53 (G154V and R273L). Furthermore, levels of RNAs originated from HBV genome were repressed more than 10 fold by the cotransfection of the p53 encoding plasmid. These results clearly states that p53 is a nesative regulator of the HBV replication. Next, to addresss the mechanism by which p53 represses the HBV replication, we performed the transient transfection experiments employing the pregenomic/core promoter-CAT(Chloramphenicol Acetyl Transferase) construct as a reporter. Cotransfection of wild-type p53 but not the mutant p53 expression plasmids repressed the CAT activity more than 8 fold. Integrating the above results, we propose that p53 represses the replication of HBV specifically by the down-regulation of the pregenomic/core promoter, which results in the reduced DNA synthesis of HBV. Currently, the mechanism by which HBV overcomes the observed p53-mediated restriction of replication is tinder investigation.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.42 no.2
• /
• pp.123-134
• /
• 2019

Lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) is an endogenous lysophospholipid with signaling properties outside of the cell and it signals through specific G protein-coupled receptors, known as $LPA_{1-6}$. For one of its receptors, $LPA_1$ (gene name Lpar1), details on the cis-acting elements for transcriptional control have not been defined. Using 5'RACE analysis, we report the identification of an alternative transcription start site of mouse Lpar1 and characterize approximately 3,500 bp of non-coding flanking sequence 5' of mouse Lpar1 gene for promoter activity. Transient transfection of cells derived from mouse neocortical neuroblasts with constructs from the 5' regions of mouse Lpar1 gene revealed the region between -248 to +225 serving as the basal promoter for Lpar1. This region also lacks a TATA box. For the region between -761 to -248, a negative regulatory element affected the basal expression of Lpar1. This region has three E-box sequences and mutagenesis of these E-boxes, followed by transient expression, demonstrated that two of the E-boxes act as negative modulators of Lpar1. One of these E-box sequences bound the HeLa E-box binding protein (HEB), and modulation of HEB levels in the transfected cells regulated the transcription of the reporter gene. Based on our data, we propose that HEB may be required for a proper regulation of Lpar1 expression in the embryonic neocortical neuroblast cells and to affect its function in both normal brain development and disease settings.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.26 no.5
• /
• pp.462-467
• /
• 2008

TPA is known to cooperate with an activated Ras oncogene in the transformation of rodent fibroblasts, but the biochemical mechanisms responsible for this effect have not been established. In the present study we used c-fos promoter-luciferase constructs as reporters, in transient transfection assays, in NIH3T3 cells to assess the mechanism of this cooperation. We found a marked synergistic interaction between TPA and a transfected v-Ha-ras oncogene in the activation of c-fos promoter and SRE. SRE has binding sites for TCF and SRF. A dominant-negative Ras (ras-N17) inhibited the TPA-Ras synergy by blocking the PKC-MAPK-TCF pathway. Dominant-negative RhoA and Rac1 (but not Cdc42Hs) inhibited the TPA-Ras synergy by blocking the Ras-Rho-SRF signaling pathway. Constitutively active $PKC{\alpha}$ and $PKC{\varepsilon}$ showed synergy with v-Ras. These results suggest that the activation of two distinct pathways such as Ras-Raf-ERK-TCF pathway and Rho-SRF pathway are responsible for the induction of c-fos by TPA and Ras in mitogenic signaling pathways.

• BMB Reports
• /
• v.42 no.9
• /
• pp.568-573
• /
• 2009

Fatty acid oxidation (FAO) defects cause abnormal lipid accumulation in various tissues, which provides an opportunity to uncover novel genes that are involved in lipid metabolism. During a gene expression study in the riboflavin deficient induced FAO disorder in the chicken, we discovered the dramatic increase in mRNA levels of an uncharacterized gene, ANKRD9. No functions have been ascribed to ANKRD9 and its orthologs, although their sequences are well conserved among vertebrates. To provide insight into the function of ANKRD9, the expression of ANKRD9 mRNA in lipidperturbed paradigms was examined. The hepatic mRNA level of ANKRD9 was repressed by thyroid hormone ($T_3$) and fasting, elevated by re-feeding upon fasting. However, ANKRD9 mRNA level is reduced in response to apoptosis. Transient transfection assay with green fluorescent protein tagged- ANKRD9 showed that this protein is localized within the cytoplasm. These findings point to the possibility that ANKRD9 is involved in intracellular lipid accumulation.

• Molecules and Cells
• /
• v.24 no.3
• /
• pp.372-377
• /
• 2007

The orphan nuclear receptor, SF-1, plays a pivotal role in the development and differentiation of the endocrine and reproductive systems, and also regulates the transcription of a host of genes, including those encoding several steroidogenic enzymes and gonadotropins. We found that a previously unidentified repressor, EID-1, is an SF-1-interacting protein that inhibits the transactivation of SF-1. A transient transfection assay revealed that EID-1 inhibits SF-1, but not LRH-1, $ERR{\gamma}$, or mCAR. Using the yeast two hybrid and GST pull-down assays, we determined that EID-1 interacted strongly with SF-1. In addition, it colocalized with SF-1 in mammalian cells and interacted specifically with the AF-2 domain of SF-1, competing with SRC-1 to inhibit SF-1 transactivation. EID-1 is expressed in the mouse testis, and its expression decreases during testis development. The results of the present study suggest that EID-1 can act as a repressor, regulating the function of SF-1.

• Toxicological Research
• /
• v.16 no.2
• /
• pp.95-100
• /
• 2000

In previous study, both constitutive expression and 3-methylcholanthrene (3MC)-mediated elevation of CYP1A2 mRNA were demonstrated in human hepatoma HepG2 cells by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR), suggesting that HepG2 cells would be appropriate for the study of human CYP1A2 regulation(Chung and Bresnick, 1994). Further studies were conducted to determine the basis of this induction phenomenon that is observed in HepG2 cells. Since CYP1A1 gene, another polycyclic hydrocarbon(PH)-inducible gene, is regulated by PHs through their interactions via receptors with cis-elements, the 5'-flanking region of human CYP 1A2 gene was analyzed to search such responsive elements. The promoter activity of various lengths of CYP1A2 gene sequence (-3203/+58bp) was measured in transiently-transfected HepG2 cells by fusion constructs containing the CAT, hGH or luciferase genes as a reporter. This region of the CYP1A2 gene, although containing a XRE, was only weakly responsive (less than 2 fold induction) to 10 nM of TCDD or 1 $\mu$M 3 MC treatment. This small enhancement of promoter activity is inconsistent with the previous observation, i.e., 12 to 14 fold-enhanced CYP1A2 mRNA from 1 $\mu$M 3 MC treated HepG2 cells, suggesting that additional mechanisms would exist for PH-mediated induction of CYP1A2 in these cells.

• Proceedings of the Korean Society of Plant Pathology Conference
• /
• 2003.10a
• /
• pp.29-29
• /
• 2003

Incompatible plant-pathogen interactions result in the rapid cell death response known as hypersensitive response (HR) and activation of host defense-related genes. To understand the molecular and cellular mechanism controlling defense response better, several approaches including isolation and characterization of novel genes, promoter analysis of those genes, protein-protein interaction analysis and reverse genetic approach etc. By using the yeast two-hybrid system a clone named Tsipl, Tsil -interacting protein 1, was isolated whose translation product apparently interacted with Tsil, an EREBP/AP2 type DNA binding protein. RNA gel blot analysis showed that the expression of Tsipl was increased by treatment with NaCl, ethylene, salicylic acid, or gibberellic acid. Transient expression analysis using a Tsipl::smGFP fusion gene in Arabidopsis protoplasts indicated that the Tsipl protein was targeted to the outer surface of chloroplasts. The targeted Tsipl::smGFP proteins were diffused to the cytoplasm of protoplasts in the presence of salicylic acid (SA) The PEG-mediated co-transfection analysis showed that Tsipl could interact with Tsil in the nucleus. These results suggest that Tsipl-Tsil interaction might serve to regulate defense-related gene expression. Basically the useful promoters are valuable tools for effective control of gene expression related to various developmental and environmental condition.(중략)