Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0022575 (keratoconjunctivitis sicca)
 772 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The RNA-dependent protein kinase (PKR) is inducible by interferon (IFN) and is implicated in the antiviral and antiproliferative actions of IFN. We have now isolated human genomic clones that contain the promoter region required for transcription of the Pkr gene. Transient transfection analyses, using chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) as the reporter in constructs possessing various 5'-flanking fragments of the Pkr gene, led to the identification of a functional TATA-less promoter that directed IFN-inducible transcription of CAT. Sequence determination and deletion analysis of the promoter region revealed an element (5'GGAAAACGAAACT3') involved in IFN inducibility that corresponds to the consensus sequence of the IFN-stimulated response element (ISRE). Comparison of the promoter sequence of the human Pkr gene to that of the mouse homolog identified a novel element (5'GGGAAGGCGGAGTCC3') immediately upstream of the ISRE element which so far is unique to the human and mouse Pkr gene promoters. We have designated this new motif as KCS, for kinase conserved sequence. Deletion and substitution mutants of the Pkr promoter region showed that the ISRE element was required for transcriptional induction by type I IFN, whereas the KCS motif increased promoter activity mediated by the ISRE. Additional potential regulatory cis-elements were identified in the human Pkr promoter that are commonly associated with growth control regulation and differentiation. Other than the ISRE and novel KCS elements, the overall organization of potential binding sites for transcription factors was not well conserved between the IFN-inducible promoters of the human and mouse Pkr genes. The strict conservation of sequence, distance, and position of KCS, relative to ISRE, together with mutagenesis results, suggest an important functional role for the newly recognized KCS motif.
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PMID:Isolation of the interferon-inducible RNA-dependent protein kinase Pkr promoter and identification of a novel DNA element within the 5'-flanking region of human and mouse Pkr genes. 900 65

RNA-dependent protein kinase PKR is an important regulator of gene expression in interferon (IFN)-treated and virus-infected cells. The 50-kb gene encoding human PKR kinase (pkr) is inducible by IFN. Transfection analyses, using chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) as the reporter in constructs possessing various 5'-flanking fragments of the human pkr gene, led to the identification of a functional TATA-less promoter that directed IFN-inducible transcription. Sequence determination and mutational analysis of the pkr promoter region revealed, in addition to a functional copy of the IFN-stimulated response element (ISRE) responsible for inducibility by type I IFN, a novel 15-bp element required for optimal promoter activity mediated by the ISRE. This element (5' GGGAAGGCGGAGTCC 3'), designated KCS for kinase-conserved sequence, is exactly conserved between the human and mouse pkr promoters in sequence and position relative to the ISRE. We have now carried out an extensive mutational analysis of the 15-bp KCS element. Site-directed mutagenesis was performed, whereby every base pair position within the KCS element was replaced by each of the other three alternatives. Forty-five substitution mutants were analyzed for promoter activity by transient transfection analysis of untreated and IFN-treated human cells. The results establish 5' NNRRRGG(C,A,T)GGRGYYN 3', where R stands for purine and Y stands for pyrimidine, as the consensus sequence for the KCS element, both for basal and for IFN-inducible promoter activity. KCS-binding proteins were detected by electrophoretic mobility shift analysis (EMSA). Competition EMSA established that constitutively expressed nuclear proteins bound the KCS element selectively; KCS protein binding activity correlated with promoter activity in the transient transfection reporter assay.
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PMID:Mechanism of interferon action: identification of essential positions within the novel 15-base-pair KCS element required for transcriptional activation of the RNA-dependent protein kinase pkr gene. 981 30