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

Gene expression of the cytolytic protein perforin is restricted to and tightly regulated in cytolytic lymphocytes. To begin to understand the molecular basis of perforin gene transcription, we cloned and analyzed 5.1 kb of the genuine murine perforin promoter and upstream region. The murine perforin promoter is located approximately 2.1 kb upstream of the translation start codon in the genomic DNA due to an intron in the 5' untranslated sequence. Although the sequenced murine promoter and upstream region was found to be quite homologous to that of the human gene, most of the interspecies conserved sequences lacked obvious consensus to known regulatory elements. Functional analysis of this region, however, indicated that it contains regulatory elements that may determine the cell-type-specific expression of this killer protein. After transient transfection into several cell lines, the perforin promoter and upstream region was used to drive the expression of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene. High levels of CAT activities, exceeding 110 times the expression of a promoterless reporter gene construct, were expressed in CTL. In contrast, in perforin-negative cell types the perforin promoter and upstream region mediated barely detectable transcription of the CAT gene. Analysis of the immediate proximal perforin promoter, -120 to +2, revealed that it was ubiquitously active and that it expressed in all cells tested 20- to 50-fold higher CAT activity than the promoterless reporter gene construct. The cell-type restricted transcriptional activity of the perforin promoter and upstream region, however, was controlled by at least four negative and positive cis-acting upstream regions that spread over the entire 5 kb of the cloned DNA and acted reciprocally in different cells. Thus, in perforin-negative cells, the transcriptional activity of the immediate proximal perforin promoter was dominantly suppressed by several upstream negative regulatory elements, whereas in perforin-positive cells, the promoter activity was enhanced more than fivefold by several upstream regulatory elements.
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PMID:Structure and function of the murine perforin promoter and upstream region. Reciprocal gene activation or silencing in perforin positive and negative cells. 140

Rat natural killer cell Met-ase-1 (RNK-Met-1) is a 30,000 M(r) serine protease (granzyme) found in the cytolytic granules of CD3- large granular lymphocytes (LGL) with natural killer (NK) activity. To characterize the genomic sequences responsible for the CD3- LGL-restricted expression of this gene, we screened a rat genomic library with RNK-Met-1 cDNA, and obtained bacteriophage clones that contained the RNK-Met-1 gene. The RNK-Met-1 gene comprises 5 exons and spans approximately 5.2 kilobases (kb), exhibiting a similar structural organization to a class of CTL-serine proteases with protease catalytic residues encoded near the borders of exons 2, 3, and 5. The 5'-flanking region of the RNK-Met-1 gene contains a number of putative promoter and enhancer regulatory elements and shares several regions of homology with the 5'-flanking region of the mouse perforin gene. We have prepared nested deletions from approximately 3.3 kb of the 5'-flanking region of the RNK-Met-1 gene, and inserted these upstream of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene. These 5'-flanking RNK-Met-1-CAT constructs were transiently transfected into rat LGL leukemia, T-lymphoma, and basophilic leukemia cell lines. The transcriptional activity of the RNK-Met-1 5'-flanking region was strong, restricted to the RNK-16 LGL leukemia and controlled by several positive cis-acting regions spread over at least 3.3 kb. The longest and most active 5'-flanking region (-3341 to -33) was also used to drive specific expression of beta-galactosidase in RNK-16. These data are consistent with the NK cell-specific expression of RNK-Met-1 and suggest the potential utility of this gene promoter in the development of transgene models of NK cell biology in vivo.
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PMID:Cloning and characterization of a novel NK cell-specific serine protease gene and its functional 5'-flanking sequences. 760 1

Expression of the gene encoding the cytolytic granule protein perforin is restricted to cytotoxic lymphocytes. To undertake a functional analysis of the immediate 5'-promoter region of the mouse perforin gene, we transiently transfected mouse perforin promoter-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene constructs into cytotoxic T, T lymphoid, B-lymphoid, and nonlymphoid cell lines. The transcriptional activity of the perforin promoter was restricted to cytotoxic lymphocytes. The perforin promoter was controlled by several positive (in perforin-positive cells) and negative (in perforin-negative cells) cis-acting regions, spread over at least 1.1 kilobases. The most specific expression of the CAT reporter gene in the interleukin-2-dependent cytotoxic T cell line CTLL-R8 was obtained with the mouse perforin promoter encompassing positions -1104 to +1 in relation to the RNA cap site. This construct expressed 65- to 70-fold higher CAT activity than the promoterless CAT construct in perforin-expressing cells but only 1- to 5-fold higher CAT activity than the promoterless construct in nonlymphoid cells. On the basis of these data, we used this most specifically active mouse perforin promoter, -1104 to +1, to express in CTLL-R8, a chimeric human receptor comprising the extracellular domains of human Fc gamma RI and the transmembrane and intracellular domains of TCR zeta. Selection in G418-containing medium produced CTLL-R8 transfectant clones that (1) expressed high levels of human Fc gamma RI mRNA; (2) expressed cell surface Fc gamma RI as demonstrated by immunoprecipitation and their ability to bind the Fc portion of human and mouse monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) in an isotype-specific manner, and (3) bound RBC expressing mucin-1 (Muc-1) peptide in the presence of a chimeric mouse-human anti-Muc-1 mAb. Activation of CTLL-R8 transfectants upon engagement of the human Fc gamma RI was evidenced by their ability to lyse tumor target cells in an mAb isotype-dependent manner. The successful expression of a functional chimeric gene in CTLL-R8 suggests that the mouse perforin promoter represents a novel reagent for expressing exogenous genes in cytotoxic T lymphocytes.
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PMID:Use of the 5'-flanking region of the mouse perforin gene to express human Fc gamma receptor I in cytotoxic T lymphocytes. 814 22