Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:1.14.14.3 (luciferase)
 38,195 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The luciferase of the bioluminescent boring mollusc, Pholas dactylus, has been purified by a new method which includes centrifugation in cesium chloride gradients. Homogeneous preparations have been obtained and molecular weight determinations and subunit analysis support the idea that this preparation is an oxyluciferin-luciferase complex. The preparation catalyzes oxidation of ascorbic acid in presence of H2O2, and this peroxidase activitity has been used for characterization (thermal and pH stabilities, activity as a function of pH, isoelectric point, turnover number). The existence of two atoms of copper has been established and their involvement in the peroxidase activity indicated. Chemical analyses have shown that Pholad luciferase is a glycoprotein and the existence of glucosamine, fucose, mannose, and galactose residues has been demonstrated. The apparent buoyant dentisty (1.340), the sedimentation coefficient (10.7 S), the Stoke's radius (83 A), the partial specific volum (0.707), and the molecular weight (350,000) have been determined. The frictional ratio (flf0 = 1.8) derived from the Stoke's radius indicates that the molecule is asymmetric. The quaternary structure has been examined. Subunits of molecular weight 150,000 and 46,000 have been observed. The latter has electrophoretic properties identical with luciferin or oxyluciferin.
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PMID:Characterization and properties of Pholas luciferase as a metalloglycoprotein. 23 92

Transcriptional regulation of the glycoprotein hormone alpha-subunit gene has been studied extensively in placental cells, but much less is known about its regulation in the pituitary gland. In this study, transcriptional control of the human alpha-subunit gene by GnRH was analyzed using transient expression assays in primary cultures of rat pituitary cells using alpha promoter constructs linked to a luciferase reporter gene. Deletion mutants between -846 and -156 basepairs (bp) had little effect on basal expression, but further deletion to -132 bp reduced basal activity by approximately 50%. Deletion of a cAMP response element between -132 and -99 bp caused a marked loss of basal activity, reducing expression to that of background luciferase activity. The same constructs were analyzed for cAMP responsiveness in primary pituitary cells. The degree of stimulation with 1 mM 8-bromo-cAMP (3.6- to 6.0-fold) was relatively unaffected by deletions from -846 to -132 bp, whereas cAMP stimulation was decreased by further deletion to -99 bp, consistent with the presence of previously defined cAMP response elements in this region of the alpha promoter. GnRH stimulation of alpha promoter activity was highly dependent upon the time of hormone addition after transfection, being most effective when added soon after transfection. Under optimal conditions, GnRH stimulated -846 alpha LUC expression by 20-fold. GnRH responsiveness was retained with deletion to -346 bp, but it was decreased by 55% after deletion to -280 bp and by 79% with deletion to -244 bp.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
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PMID:Identification of a gonadotropin-releasing hormone-responsive region in the glycoprotein hormone alpha-subunit promoter. 128 68

CD28 is a glycoprotein expressed as a homodimer on the surface of a major subset of human T cells. Previous studies have shown that proliferation of peripheral blood T cells involving the CD28 pathway is associated with cyclosporine A (CsA) resistant IL-2 gene expression. This pathway was shown to specifically regulate the stability of mRNA for several lymphokines including IL-2. We have investigated the expression of the IL-2 gene in the Jurkat cell line, J32 clone, induced by CD28 stimulation. Cross-linked anti-CD28 mAb alone was sufficient to induce the release of small amounts of IL-2 (256 U/ml). The CD28-mediated IL-2 release was enhanced with simultaneous engagement of CD28 and CD2 or CD28 and CD3 molecules. Hybrid constructs in which the human IL-2 gene 5' flanking region drives luciferase expression (pIL-2-Luc) were used to help delineate whether the CD28 pathway activates the IL-2 gene transcriptionally. Costimulation of cells with CD28 mAb and either PHA or CD2 mAb induced a 20- to 90-fold increase in the expression of pIL-2-Luc as well as IL-2 release. Costimulation with CD28 mAb plus PMA gave only five- to sevenfold increase in enhancer activity. In contrast, no enhancer activity was detected after stimulation with CD28 or CD2 mAb alone. Both IL-2 release and pIL-2-Luc activity were inhibited by CsA in J32 cells. The degree of CsA inhibition was concentration dependent and was similar in cells stimulated with either CD28 mAb or CD3 mAb. Maximum inhibition was achieved with 1 microgram/ml of CsA. Studies with internal deletion mutations of the IL-2 gene 5' flanking sequence revealed that as with stimulation through the TCR pathway, the CD28 pathway requires 5' flanking sequences located within 500 bp of the transcription start site. These results are the first direct evidence that the triggering of CD28 molecule is sufficient to induce IL-2 release in J32 cells. Furthermore these studies strongly indicate that IL-2 gene expression induced by CD28 stimulation occurs, in part, transcriptionally and is CsA sensitive in these cells.
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PMID:CD28-stimulated IL-2 gene expression in Jurkat T cells occurs in part transcriptionally and is cyclosporine-A sensitive. 134 20

Insertion of reporter genes into complex viral genomes and monitoring virus replication by detecting the corresponding protein products is increasingly used in pathogenesis studies. We present here the isolation and characterization of a recombinant neurotropic alpha-herpesvirus, pseudorabies virus (PrV), which stably carries the gene encoding firefly luciferase. To express the enzyme the complete open reading frame for luciferase was fused to the promoter and first seven codons of the non-essential glycoprotein gX gene of PrV. A recombinant PrV carrying the luciferase gene inserted into the gX gene and exhibiting strong luciferase activity after infection of cultured cells was further characterized. Kinetic analyses showed that luciferase activity was detectable as early as 90 min after infection. Luciferase expression could be monitored in cell extracts in a luminometer. For facilitating plaque isolation of luciferase recombinant viruses it was also visualized in situ on sensitive film. Kinetic experiments in mice proved the suitability of luciferase as an excellent marker for following herpesvirus spread in the animal. By way of luciferase detection we show that PrV invasion of the central nervous system after intranasal infection of mice occurred independently of replication in non-neural tissues such as lung or thymus. Furthermore, comparison of isogenic luciferase recombinant PrV strains carrying intact or deleted glycoprotein gI genes showed differences in the organotropism between these two viruses.
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PMID:Firefly luciferase as a marker for herpesvirus (pseudorabies virus) replication in vitro and in vivo. 166 92

The alpha-subunit gene of the glycoprotein hormones is normally expressed in pituitary thyrotropes and gonadotropes and in placental cells. Thus, this gene must contain elements that mediate expression and hormonal responses in different cell types. The localization of DNA regions important for expression and regulation of the alpha-subunit gene in thyrotrope cells has not previously been reported. In these studies luciferase expression constructs containing 1700 basepairs of 5' flanking DNA derived from the mouse alpha-subunit gene were introduced by electroporation into freshly dispersed cells from TSH-producing mouse pituitary tumors (TtT 97). This promoter functioned with greater efficiency in thyrotropes than in nonthyrotrope pituitary GH4 cells and L-cell fibroblasts. Primer extension confirmed that transcription from the alpha-subunit constructs initiated at the same site as the endogenous gene. Studies using 5' truncations showed a progressive loss of alpha-subunit promoter activity in thyrotropes between -480 and -120, with regions upstream of -254 contributing substantially to expression in thyrotrope cells. Thyroid hormone inhibited alpha-subunit promoter activity in a dose-dependent fashion, although in vivo treatment of tumors with thyroid hormone before transfection was necessary to achieve maximal inhibition. Thyroid hormone inhibition of alpha-subunit promoter activity also occurred in GH4 cells, but no effect was observed in L-cells. Studies using 5' truncations localized a region responsible for thyroid hormone inhibition between -62 and +43, encompassing the TATA sequence and the transcriptional initiation site. When this region was compared to the thyroid hormone inhibitory regions of the alpha-subunit genes from other species and the mouse TSH beta-subunit gene, a 6-basepair motif, 5' (G/A)GTG(G/A)G 3', emerged as a possible consensus sequence for a thyroid hormone inhibitory element.
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PMID:Thyrotrope expression and thyroid hormone inhibition map to different regions of the mouse glycoprotein hormone alpha-subunit gene promoter. 169 83

The glycoprotein hormone alpha-subunit gene is expressed in a cell-specific manner in the anterior pituitary and placenta. Previous studies have shown that the region between -178 to -111 is indispensable for placental-specific expression of the human alpha-subunit gene. Using gene transfer techniques with chimeric luciferase plasmids, this report identifies regions of the mouse alpha-subunit promoter that are important for transcriptional activation in primary thyrotropic cells. Transient expression of a series of 5' flanking DNA deletions resulted in stepwise reductions of basal promoter activity between -480 to -417 (4-fold), -254 to -177 (5-fold), and -177 to -120 (3.5-fold). DNase-I protection analysis with nuclear extracts from thyrotropic tumor cells revealed specific protein-DNA interactions within each of these functionally defined regions. These were mapped to positions -474 to -452, -447 to -419, -213 to -170, and -158 to -101 within the 5' flanking region. In contrast, in mouse fibroblast L-cells no significant difference in alpha-subunit promoter activity was found by deleting the region from -480 to -177. However, a 3-fold decrease, similar to that found in primary thyrotropes, was found by deleting the region from -177 to -120. Further, a smaller region between -138 and -122 was the only area detected by the DNase-I protection assay using L-cell nuclear extracts. Thus, several cis-acting promoter elements located up-stream of position -177 are important for expression in thyrotropes. These elements also bind nuclear factors present in thyrotropes but not in nonpituitary fibroblasts and, therefore, differ from those mediating expression of the human alpha-subunit gene in the placenta.
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PMID:Identification of cis-acting promoter elements important for expression of the mouse glycoprotein hormone alpha-subunit gene in thyrotropes. 170 76

The gene encoding angiotensinogen, the glycoprotein precursor of the potent vasopressor peptide angiotensin II, is transcriptionally activated in hepatocytes during the acute-phase response through interactions of mutually cooperative glucocorticoid receptors and proteins that bind to an acute-phase response element (APRE) 5'-AGTTGGGATTTCCCAACC-3'. The APRE binds a family of constitutive proteins (BPcs) and a cytokine inducible protein (BPi) that is indistinguishable from nuclear factor kappa B (NF kappa B). The interactions of purified proteins with the APRE were studied by in vitro binding and in vivo transcriptional trans-activation assays. BPc is a family of heat-stable DNA binding proteins, the different sized members of which are capable of forming heterodimers. BPcs are recognized by anti-C/EBP antiserum and produce a footprint similar to bacterially expressed C/EBP on the APRE. BPi has a 4- to 5-fold greater affinity for the APRE than the BPcs, and contacts guanosine residues distinct from those contacted by the BPcs, demonstrating that these two classes of proteins contain functionally distinct DNA binding domains. Assays of APRE-luciferase reporter plasmids transfected into HepG2 cells show that a mutated APRE that binds only BPi functions as an IL-1 alpha inducible enhancer, whereas a mutated APRE that binds only BPc does not. The APRE mutant that binds the C/EBP-like BPcs to the exclusion of BPi functions as an uninducible basal enhancer both in the native context of the angiotensinogen gene and when multimerized and placed upstream of a minimal angiotensinogen promoter. The wild-type APRE that binds both BPi and BPc is less inducible by IL-1 alpha than the mutated APRE that binds only BPi. Gel shift competition assays demonstrate in vitro that the mechanism of transcriptional regulation by the APRE involves a competition between BPc and the inducible BPi for binding to the APRE. IL-1 alpha stimulation of hepatocytes leads to nuclear translocation of the NF kappa B-like BPi which competes with the constitutive C/EBP-like BPcs for overlapping binding sites on the APRE and thereby replaces weak transcriptional activators with a stronger one.
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PMID:A family of constitutive C/EBP-like DNA binding proteins attenuate the IL-1 alpha induced, NF kappa B mediated trans-activation of the angiotensinogen gene acute-phase response element. 217 52

The gene encoding the mouse egg primary receptor for sperm, a zona pellucida glycoprotein called ZP3, is expressed exclusively in growing oocytes within ovaries of sexually immature and mature female mice. We have constructed a transgene in which 6.5 kilobases of ZP3 gene 5'-flanking sequence is fused to the coding region of the firefly luciferase gene, and we have generated four independent lines of transgenic mice. In these animals, the transgene is expressed exclusively in ovaries. Furthermore, within ovaries, expression is confined to growing oocytes, and luciferase activity can be detected by assaying individual, isolated oocytes. The pattern of firefly luciferase expression during oocyte growth is similar to that observed in previous studies of ZP3 expression during oogenesis in mice. Observations reported here strongly suggest that cis-acting elements present in the ZP3 gene 5'-flanking region regulate oocyte-specific and, therefore, sex-specific expression of the sperm receptor gene during mouse development. They also suggest that such elements can be used to direct expression of cloned genes specifically to oocytes of transgenic mice and to evaluate the effects of such expression on various aspects of early mammalian development.
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PMID:An upstream region of the mouse ZP3 gene directs expression of firefly luciferase specifically to growing oocytes in transgenic mice. 240 4

Studies of gene regulation are greatly facilitated by the ability to transfect DNA into cultured cells. We examined a variety of transfection techniques to optimize transient expression of the human glycoprotein hormone alpha-gene in primary pituitary cells and subsequently investigated the regulation of alpha-promoter transcription. Expression vectors driven by either the rous sarcoma virus-chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (RSVCAT) or the human alpha-gene (alpha CAT) promoters were transfected into cultures of dispersed female rat pituitary cells using calcium phosphate (CaPO4), diethylaminoethyl-dextran, lipofection, and electroporation procedures. CAT activity was optimal using the CaPO4 technique, resulting in 511 +/- 49% and 57 +/- 5% conversion/100 micrograms protein/4 h for RSVCAT and alpha CAT, respectively. Immunohistochemical analyses of alpha CAT expression using anti-CAT monoclonal antibodies demonstrated that the alpha-gene promoter is expressed in pituitary cells, predominantly if not exclusively, in gonadotropes and thyrotropes. Hormonal regulation of alpha-promoter activity was assessed using both the CAT and the luciferase (LUC) reporter systems. alpha-Promoter activity was significantly (P less than 0.001) stimulated by 8-bromo-cAMP (217% increase), GnRH (75% increase), GnRH agonist analog (141% increase), and TRH (75% increase). The expression of control plasmids (RSVLUC, TKLUC, pOLUC) was not affected by treatment with these agents. We conclude that CaPO4-mediated transfection allows analyses of transient gene expression in primary pituitary cells. The alpha-promoter directs expression specifically in pituitary cells, predominantly gonadotropes and thyrotropes. alpha-Gene transcription is stimulated by GnRH, TRH, and 8-bromo-cAMP.
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PMID:Regulation of transfected glycoprotein hormone alpha-gene expression in primary pituitary cell cultures. 255 99

Pulsatile GnRH regulates the biosynthesis and secretion of gonadotropins. Continuous administration of GnRH is known to desensitize gonadotropin secretion, but its effects on gonadotropin gene expression are less well characterized. We used a cell line of gonadotrope lineage (alpha T3 cells) to examine GnRH regulation of glycoprotein hormone alpha-subunit gene transcription. The alpha-subunit promoter, linked to a luciferase reporter gene (alpha LUC), was stably transfected into alpha T3 cells. Treatment with GnRH stimulated alpha LUC activity 3-fold. Stimulation of alpha LUC by GnRH was transient, with maximal activity after 6 h of treatment, followed by a return to baseline after 24 h. Stimulation of alpha-promoter activity by GnRH was inhibited entirely by a 10-fold molar excess of antide, a GnRH antagonist. Antide partially blocked GnRH stimulation even when added 4 h after GnRH, suggesting that a brief exposure to GnRH is not sufficient for maximal transcriptional stimulation. alpha LUC activity was also stimulated by treatment with 8-bromo-cAMP (3.5-fold), phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (TPA; 2.6-fold), or Bay K 8644 (3.3-fold). To assess whether the transient nature of GnRH stimulation was due to transcriptional desensitization, cells were pretreated with GnRH, followed by a second treatment with GnRH, cAMP, TPA, or Bay K. After pretreatment with GnRH, no further stimulation was seen after the addition of GnRH or TPA, but alpha LUC activity was further stimulated after the addition of either cAMP or Bay K. These findings indicate that the pathway for transcriptional activation by GnRH is desensitized and suggest that GnRH also desensitizes TPA-mediated stimulation. Similarly, pretreatment with TPA, but not cAMP or Bay K, prevented subsequent stimulation by GnRH. We conclude that GnRH transiently stimulates alpha gene transcription and that desensitization occurs with continuous exposure to GnRH, probably because of down-regulation of the protein kinase-C pathway.
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PMID:Gonadotropin-releasing hormone causes transcriptional stimulation followed by desensitization of the glycoprotein hormone alpha promoter in transfected alpha T3 gonadotrope cells. 750 27


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