Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0025362 (mental retardation)
 15,878 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The promoter of the human fragile mental retardation gene (FMR1) was functionally analyzed in order to identify elements responsible for its regulation. Plasmids carrying the wild type or different deleted-promoter sequences driving the chloramphenicol acetyl transferase gene (CAT) were transiently transfected into the SK-N-SH cells and the CAT activity was assessed. Deletion studies suggested that major regulatory elements are present in a DNA region between positions -123 and -51. Gel mobility shift and footprinting assays using a DNA fragment encompassing that promoter region showed that SP1 and AP2 transcription factors could be involved in the functioning of the FMR1 promoter.
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PMID:Sp1 and AP2 transcription factors are required for the human fragile mental retardation promoter activity in SK-N-SH neuronal cells. 1061 27

Fragile X syndrome, the most common heritable form of mental retardation, is caused by silencing of the FMR1 (fragile X mental retardation-1 gene). The protein product of this gene, FMRP (fragile X mental retardation protein), is thought to be involved in the translational regulation of mRNAs important for learning and memory. In mammals, there are two homologues of FMRP, namely FXR1P (fragile X-related protein 1) and FXR2P. Disruption of Fxr2 in mice produces learning and memory deficits, and Fmr1 and Fxr2 double-knockout mice have exaggerated impairments in certain neurobehavioral phenotypes relative to the single gene knockouts. This has led to the suggestion that FMR1 and FXR2 functionally overlap and that increasing the expression of FXR2P may ameliorate the symptoms of an FMRP deficiency. Interestingly, the region upstream of the FXR2 translation start site acts as a bidirectional promoter in rodents, driving transcription of an alternative transcript encoding the ABP (androgen-binding protein) [aABP (alternative ABP promoter)]. To understand the regulation of the human FXR2 gene, we cloned the evolutionarily conserved region upstream of the FXR2 translation start site and showed that it also has bidirectional promoter activity in both neuronal and muscle cells as evidenced by luciferase reporter assay studies. Alignment of the human, mouse, rat, rabbit and dog promoters reveals several highly conserved transcription factor-binding sites. Gel electrophoretic mobility-shift assays, chromatin immunoprecipitation studies and co-transfection experiments with plasmids expressing these transcription factors or dominant-negative versions of these factors showed that NF-YA (nuclear transcription factor Yalpha), AP2 (activator protein 2), Nrf1 (nuclear respiratory factor/alpha-Pal) and Sp1 (specificity protein 1) all bind to the FXR2 promoter both in vitro and in vivo and positively regulate the FXR2 promoter.
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PMID:NF-Y, AP2, Nrf1 and Sp1 regulate the fragile X-related gene 2 (FXR2). 1688 7