Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: EC:2.3.1.28 (chloramphenicol acetyltransferase)
 5,100 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The mouse adipsin gene encodes a member of the serine protease family that is expressed predominantly in adipose tissue and is secreted into the bloodstream. Adipsin expression is sharply down-regulated in several models of genetic and acquired obesity, representing the first example of an adipocyte gene whose expression is greatly altered in this disorder. In this study, we have asked whether a DNA fragment from the adipsin gene can direct tissue-specific expression of a heterologous gene and mediate the suppression of this expression in genetic and chemically induced obesity. Transgenic mice have been constructed with 950 bases of DNA from the 5' flanking region of the adipsin gene linked to the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene in a mouse strain bearing a recessive obesity gene (diabetes, db). By crossing db/+ transgenic mice with nontransgenic db/+ mice, we obtained progeny that allowed a direct comparison of CAT expression in the tissues of lean and obese littermates. The lean mice express CAT activity predominantly in adipose tissue, while the obese mice show a marked reduction in CAT expression relative to the lean controls. When similar experiments are performed with an adipsin-CAT fusion gene containing a heterologous AKV (AKR mouse leukemia virus) enhancer, the tissue specificity of CAT expression in lean mice is broadened to include the thymus, spleen, brain, and other tissues; down-regulation occurs in all of these tissues in mice homozygous for the obesity gene or in mice that have been injected with monosodium glutamate (MSG), which induces obesity. These results indicate that 950 bases of the 5' flanking region of the adipsin gene carry information that specifies both expression in adipose tissue and a response to a gene or chemical that induces obesity. These results also suggest that the trans-acting factors that are regulated aberrantly in these forms of obesity are not restricted to adipose tissue and could play a role in obesity-linked dysfunctions observed in other tissues as well.
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PMID:Obesity-linked regulation of the adipsin gene promoter in transgenic mice. 279 20

Transcription of the adipocyte-specific adipsin gene is dramatically reduced in the adipose tissue of a number of genetically and chemically-induced obese rodents. To map the region of the adipsin gene that confers this response to obesity, transgenic mice were made containing -114, -250, -400, -700, and -938 base pairs (bp) to +35 bp of the promoter linked to the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene. Transgenic mice containing as few as 114 bp of the adipsin promoter had high levels of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase activity in adipose tissue. However, only those mice with 938 bp of the adipsin upstream regulatory region showed suppression of expression in adipose tissue in mice that were induced to become obese with monosodium glutamate. Using gel retardation assays, we showed that a 56-bp fragment of DNA mapping between -687 and -743 bp upstream from the start of adipsin expression was bound by protein factors in nuclear extracts prepared from adipose tissue. There was much greater retardation of this fragment with nuclear extracts prepared from adipose tissue of lean versus obese mice. These results indicate that a tissue-specific transcription factor(s) that regulates adipsin expression is less active in the adipose tissue of obese animals.
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PMID:Independent regulation of adipose tissue-specificity and obesity response of the adipsin promoter in transgenic mice. 796 1

Myxoid liposarcomas are characterized by t(12; 16)(q13;p11) translocation and expression of TLS/ FUS-CHOP chimeric transcripts (types I to III). Among these, the type II transcript is expressed in the majority of cases of myxoid and round cell liposarcoma. To investigate the function of the type II chimeric protein, we obtained stable transformants of ST-13, a murine preadipocytic cell line, which express TLS/FUS-CHOP type II protein (ST-TC) or CHOP protein (ST-C) as well as vector-transfected controls (ST-V). ST-TC and ST-C cells showed almost complete or partial resistance to adipogenic conversion by insulin and thiazolidinedione, respectively. Induction by adipogenic stimulation of the adipocytic genes such as C/EBP alpha, aP2, and adipsin was almost totally suppressed in the ST-TC cells, whereas in ST-C cells C/EBP alpha alone was induced without induction of aP2 and adipsin. Transcriptional suppression of the C/EBP alpha gene in ST-TC cells was suggested by the results of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) assay showing a significantly lower C/EBP alpha promoter activity compared with findings in ST-C and ST-V cells. Failure to rescue adipogenic conversion by ectopic expression of C/EBP alpha in ST-TC cells suggested a functional impairment of C/EBP alpha to induce expression of downstream genes. TLS/FUS-CHOP type II protein showed transforming activity, as evidenced by loss of contact inhibition of growth, anchorage-independent growth in soft agar, and tumor formation in nude mice, showing typical histological features of myxoid liposarcoma seen in humans. These findings suggest important roles for TLS/FUS-CHOP type II protein in the oncogenesis of myxoid liposarcoma.
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PMID:Oncogenic transformation and inhibition of adipocytic conversion of preadipocytes by TLS/FUS-CHOP type II chimeric protein. 928 22