Identification of a purine-rich intronic enhancer element in the mouse eosinophil-associated ribonuclease 2 (mEar 2) gene

Eosinophil development, regulation of eosinophil-specific genes, and role of eosinophils in the pathogenesis of asthma

Eosinophils arise from hematopoietic CD34⁺ stem cells in the bone marrow. They acquire IL-5Rα on their surface at a very early stage during eosinophilopoiesis, and differentiate under the strong influence of interleukin (IL)-5. They then exit to the bloodstream, and enter the lung upon exposure to airway inflammatory signals, including eotaxins. In inflamed tissues, eosinophils act as key mediators of terminal effector functions and innate immunity and in linking to adaptive immune responses. Transcription factors GATA-1, CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein, and PU.1 play instructive roles in eosinophil specification from multipotent stem cells through a network of cooperative and antagonistic interactions. Not surprisingly, the interplay of these transcription factors is instrumental in forming the regulatory circuit of expression of eosinophil-specific genes, encoding eosinophil major basic protein and neurotoxin, CC chemokine receptor 3 eotaxin receptor, and IL-5 receptor alpha. Interestingly, a common feature is that the critical cis-acting elements for these transcription factors are clustered in exon 1 and intron 1 of these genes rather than their promoters. Elucidation of the mechanism of eosinophil development and activation may lead to selective elimination of eosinophils in animals and human subjects. Furthermore, availability of a range of genetically modified mice lacking or overproducing eosinophil-specific genes will facilitate evaluation of the roles of eosinophils in the pathogenesis of asthma. This review summarizes eosinophil biology, focusing on development and regulation of eosinophil-specific genes, with a heavy emphasis on the causative link between eosinophils and pathological development of asthma using genetically modified mice as models of asthma.

GATA transcription factors regulate the expression of the human eosinophil-derived neurotoxin (RNase 2) gene

The transcription factors GATA-1 and GATA-2 have been implicated in promoting differentiation of eosinophilic leukocytes. In this study, we examined the roles of GATA-1 and GATA-2 in activating transcription of the secretory ribonuclease, the eosinophil-derived neurotoxin (EDN/RNase 2). Augmented expression of both GATA-1 and GATA-2 was detected in eosinophil promyelocyte HL-60 clone 15 cells in response to biochemical differentiation with butyric acid. Deletion or mutation of one or both of the two consensus GATA-binding sites in the extended 1000-bp 5' promoter of the EDN gene resulted in profound reduction in reporter gene activity. Antibody-augmented electrophoretic mobility shift and chromatin immunoprecipitation analyses indicate that GATA-1 and GATA-2 proteins bind to both functional GATA consensus sequences in the EDN promoter. Interestingly, RNA silencing of GATA-1 alone had no impact on EDN expression; silencing of GATA-2 resulted in diminished expression of EDN, and also diminished expression of GATA-1 in both butyric acid-induced HL-60 clone 15 cells and in differentiating human eosinophils derived from CD34(+) hematopoietic progenitors. Likewise, overexpression of GATA-2 in uninduced HL-60 clone 15 cells resulted in augmented transcription of both EDN and GATA-1. Taken together, our data suggest that GATA-2 functions directly via interactions with the EDN promoter and also indirectly, via its ability to regulate the expression of GATA-1 in differentiating eosinophils and eosinophil cell lines.

A novel polymorphic purine complex at the 1.5 kb upstream region of the human caveolin-1 gene and risk of Alzheimer's disease; extra-short alleles and accumulated allele homozygosity

Crucial interaction of caveolin-1 (CAV1) with beta- and gamma-secretases, and aberrant expression of the gene encoding this protein in Alzheimer's disease (AD) support a role for CAV1 in the pathophysiology of this disease. We report a novel polymorphic purine complex stretching approximately 150 bp of genomic DNA at the 1.5 kb upstream region of the human CAV1 gene, alleles and genotypes of which are associated with sporadic late-onset AD. Extra-short alleles were observed in the case group that were absent in the control subjects. Remarkably, 63% of these alleles were observed to be homozygous in length, forming 23.7% of the homozygote length compartment in the AD cases (chi(2) = 19.08, df = 1, P < 0.000007). Increased homozygosity for length was also observed at this region in the Alzheimer's cases, for the allele lengths shared by the case and control groups [(chi(2) = 30.75, df = 1, P < 0.0000000, OR = 4.54, CI 95% (2.56-8.3)]. This region contains GGAA and GAAA motifs, the consensus binding sites for the Ets and IRF family transcription factors, respectively, and is highly conserved in distantly related non-human primates in respect with location and motif sequence. The effect of this complex sequence on the expression of CAV1, and the related mechanisms in the pathophysiology of AD remain to be clarified.

Isolation, characterization, and evolutionary divergence of mouse RNase 6: evidence for unusual evolution in rodents

The evolution of the ribonuclease A (RNase A) vertebrate-specific enzyme family is interesting in that specific gene lineages appear to be responding to unique selective pressures in wildly diverse manners to generate proteins that are capable of reducing the infectivity of viruses, killing systemic pathogens, and inducing the growth of blood vessels all while maintaining the signature motifs of a ribonuclease. In this paper, we present the DNA sequence and gene structure of Mus musculus RNase 6 and examine the expression pattern and enzymatic activity of the recombinant protein. M. musculus RNase 6 has a limited expression pattern compared to human RNase 6 and is an efficient ribonuclease, with a catalytic efficiency 17-fold higher than that of human protein. Evolutionary analysis reveals that RNase 6 was subject to unusual evolutionary forces (dN/dS = 1.2) in an ancestral rodent lineage before the separation of Mus and Rattus. However, more recent evolution of rodent RNase 6 has been relatively conserved, with an average dN/dS of 0.66. These data suggest that the ancestral rodent RNase 6 was subject to accelerated evolution, resulting in the conserved modern gene, which most likely plays an important role in mouse physiology.

Transcriptional regulation of NF-E2 p45-related factor (NRF2) expression by the aryl hydrocarbon receptor-xenobiotic response element signaling pathway: direct cross-talk between phase I and II drug-metabolizing enzymes

The aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AHR) and NF-E2 p45-related factor (NRF2) are two distinct transcription factors involved in the regulation of drug-metabolizing enzymes. Increasing evidence from several studies implies that AHR and NRF2 have direct links, but the molecular mechanism remains unknown. In this work we demonstrate for the first time that Nrf2 gene transcription is directly modulated by AHR activation. DNA sequence analyses of the mouse Nrf2 promoter revealed one xenobiotic response element (XRE)-like element (XREL1) located at -712 and two additional XRE-like elements located at +755 (XREL2) and +850 (XREL3). Functional analysis using luciferase assay showed that XREL1, XREL2, and XREL3 are all inducible by 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin treatment, with XREL2 being the most potent. The functionality of these XRE-like elements was further confirmed by mutagenesis and gel shift experiments. Finally, we used chromatin immunoprecipitation assay to show a direct binding of AHR to the Nrf2 promoter. Cells with silenced AHR expression using siRNA also lost NRF2 mRNA induction by 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin. These new data position NRF2-antioxidant response element downstream in the AHR-XRE pathway. Moreover, direct regulation of NRF2 by AHR contributes to couple phase I and II enzymes into an integrated system facilitating more effective xenobiotic and carcinogen detoxification.

The mouse RNase 4 and RNase 5/ang 1 locus utilizes dual promoters for tissue-specific expression

The ribonuclease A (RNase A) superfamily has been the subject of extensive studies in the areas of protein evolution, structure and biochemistry and are exciting molecules in that they appear to be responding to unique selection pressures, generating proteins capable of multiple and diverse activities. The RNase 4 and RNase 5/ang 1 shared locus breaks a pattern that is otherwise canonical among the members of the RNase A gene superfamily. Conserved among humans, mice and rats, the locus includes two non-coding exons followed by two distinct exons encoding RNase 4 and RNase 5/ang 1. Transcription from this locus is controlled by differential splicing and tissue-specific expression from promoters located 5′ to each of the non-coding exons. Promoter 1, 5′ to exon I, is universally active, while Promoter 2, 5′ to exon II, is active only in hepatic cells in promoter assays in vitro. Transcription from Promoter 2 is dependent on an intact HNF-1 consensus binding site which binds the transcription factor HNF-1α. In summary, RNase 4 and RNase 5/ang 1 are unique among the RNase A ribonuclease genes in that they maintain a complex gene locus that is conserved across species with transcription initiated from tissue-specific dual promoters followed by differential exon splicing.