Arylamine N-acetyltransferase I

Deletion of a xenobiotic metabolizing gene in mice affects folate metabolism

The mouse arylamine N-acetyltransferase 2 (Nat2) and its homologue (NAT1) in humans are known to detoxify xenobiotic arylamines and are also thought to play a role in endogenous metabolism. Human NAT1 is highly over-expressed in estrogen receptor positive breast tumours and is implicated in susceptibility to neural tube defects. In vitro assays have suggested an endogenous role for human NAT1 in folate metabolism, but in vivo evidence to support this hypothesis has been lacking. Mouse Nat2 provides a good model to study human NAT1 as it shows similar expression profiles and substrate specificities. We have generated transgenic mice lacking a functional Nat2 gene and compared the urinary levels of acetylated folate metabolite para-aminobenzoylglutamate in Nat2 knockout and Nat2 wild-type mice. These results support an in vivo role for mouse Nat2/human NAT1 in folate metabolism. In addition, effects of the Nat2 deletion on sex ratios and neural tube development are described.

Functional analysis of the human N-acetyltransferase 1 major promoter: quantitation of tissue expression and identification of critical sequence elements

Arylamine N-acetyltransferase 1 (NAT1) plays an important role in the biotransformation of xenobiotics, and genetic variants have been implicated in susceptibility to cancer and birth defects. A specific and quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction assay for transcription from the major NAT1 promoter detected high expression with limited variability in human tissues. A 213-base pair (bp) minimal promoter was identified by transfection of luciferase reporter constructs into MCF-7 and HepG2 cell lines. Alignment of the 213-bp region with paralogous and orthologous promoters revealed two conserved region segments, one of which overlaps a 16-bp perfect palindrome. Transfection of luciferase constructs with artificial mutations in the minimal promoter defined two sites important for promoter function. One of these sites included a close match to the Sp1 transcription factor binding consensus sequence. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs), followed by competitive and supershift analyses, confirmed the Sp1 binding. Mutation of the highly conserved portion of the 16-bp palindrome reduced promoter activity more than 3-fold, and an EMSA shift was detected with an oligonucleotide, 200L29, which spans this segment. The 200L29 EMSA shift could not be competed by consensus Sp1 or AP-2 oligonucleotides, and may represent binding of a transcription factor that is common to N-acetyltransferase genes in humans and other species.