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Biomedical subjects

Y Tokumoto

Publications and source records attributed to Y Tokumoto.

18 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2001

A transmembrane trap method for efficient cloning of genes encoding proteins possessing transmembrane domain.

To facilitate searching for genes encoding cell membrane proteins, we developed a method for isolating cDNAs that contain sequences for hydrophobic transmembrane runs. This cloning strategy, termed the "transmembrane (TM) trap method," utilizes a vector that directs the cell surface expression of mouse CD4 fusion protein when an insert encoding hydrophobic transmembrane sequences is cloned in-frame with correct orientation. We applied this novel method to isolation of cytokine receptor cDNAs. Our strategy enabled efficient isolation of relatively rare species encoding receptors such as IL-2Rgamma, IL-3Rbeta, IL-4Ralpha, IL-5Ralpha, and IL-6Ralpha. This method also could be used to isolate cDNAs for intracellular molecules with a transmembrane region, e.g., bcl-2. These results indicate that the TM trap method provides an efficient cloning strategy for identification of various families of genes encoding proteins with one or more transmembrane regions.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Role of thyroid hormone receptors in timing oligodendrocyte differentiation.

The timing of oligodendrocyte differentiation is thought to depend on both intracellular mechanisms and extracellular signals. Thyroid hormone (TH) helps control this timing both in vitro and in vivo, but it is still uncertain how it does so. TH acts through nuclear receptors that are encoded by two genes, TRalpha and TRbeta. Previous studies suggested that TRbeta receptors may mediate the effect of TH on oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs). Consistent with this possibility, we show here that overexpression of TRbeta1 promotes precocious oligodendrocyte differentiation, whereas expression of two dominant-negative forms of TRbeta1 greatly delays differentiation. Surprisingly, however, we find that postnatal TRbeta-/- mice have a normal number of oligodendrocytes in their optic nerves and that TRbeta-/- OPCs stop dividing and differentiate normally in response to TH in vitro. Moreover, we find that OPCs do not express TRbeta1 or TRbeta2 mRNAs, whereas they do express TRalpha1 and TRalpha2 mRNAs. These findings suggest that alpha receptors mediate the effect of TH on the timing of oligodendrocyte differentiation. We also show that TRalpha2 mRNA, which encodes a dominant-negative form of TRalpha, decreases as OPCs proliferate in vitro and in vivo. This decrease may help control when oligodendrocyte precursors differentiate.

Animals↗
PubMed2001

Timing cell-cycle exit and differentiation in oligodendrocyte development.

During animal development many cells permanently stop dividing and terminally differentiate. For the most part, the mechanisms that control when the cells exit the cell cycle and differentiate are not known. We have been studying the mechanisms in the oligodendrocyte cell lineage. Studies of oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) in culture suggest that each OPC has a built-in timing mechanism that helps determine when the cell stops dividing and differentiates. This intrinsic timer consists of at least two components--a timing component, which measures elapsed time, and an effector component, which stops cell division and initiates differentiation at the appropriate time. The timer seems to involve both transcriptional and posttranscriptional mechanisms, with some proteins progressively increasing and others progressively decreasing over time.

Animals↗
PubMed1998

Impaired erythropoiesis in transgenic mice overexpressing a truncated erythropoietin receptor.

Erythropoietin (EPO), one of the pivotal regulators of erythrocyte production, transmits signals through the EPO receptor (EPOR). We have previously reported that human bone marrow (BM) cells express two dominant forms of the EPOR, one full-length and one truncated (EPOR-F and EPOR-T). Experiments with a cell line have shown that the EPOR-T acts as a dominant-negative regulator of EPOR-F-mediated signals. Its role in erythropoiesis in vivo, however, has yet to be clarified. Here we show the presence in mouse BM of a truncated form of the EPOR that is essentially the same as EPOR-T in humans. To investigate its role in vivo, we generated transgenic mice overexpressing mouse EPOR-T (EPOR-T-Tg mice). As a result, two independent EPOR-T-Tg lines were established. One line revealed mild anemia, but another line did not. When anemia was induced experimentally in these mice, however, both lines showed apparently poor recovery resulting in higher mortality than wild-type control mice. The impaired erythropoiesis found in these mice thus strongly suggests the EPOR-T's role as a negative regulator of erythropoiesis in vivo.

Anemia, Hemolytic↗
PubMed1996

Role of a truncated erythropoietin receptor for erythroid differentiation.

Erythropoietin (EPO) is a cytokine that regulates erythropoiesis through the EPO receptor (EPOR). We reported previously that erythroid progenitor cells express both a full-length and a truncated form of EPOR (EPOR-F and EPOR-Tph). EPOR-Tph cannot transmit growth signals and acts as a dominant negative regulator against EPOR-F-mediated signals for cell survival and growth. Upon transfection of EPOR-F in a cell line, Ba/F3, beta-globin accumulation, which is considered to be a marker of erythroid-differentiation, is inducible in the transformants. We show here that the co-expression of EPOR-Tph in EPOR-F-transformants does not inhibit and rather upregulates the beta-globin induction while inhibiting survival and growth of the transformants. These data suggest that, in contrast to survival and growth signals, EPOR-Tph acts as a positive regulator for erythroid-differentiation signals in erythroid progenitor cells.

Animals↗
PubMed1992

RNA-RNA and RNA-DNA ligation with the sTobRV(+) hammerhead ribozyme.

The sTobRV(+) ribozyme consists of a small catalytic domain and two wing sequences(1). By changing its wing sequences, the ribozyme can cleave many different RNAs in a site-specific manner, functioning as an RNA restriction enzyme(1). Although relatively strong ligase activity is known to be associated with sTobRV(+) RNA(2,3), the sTobRV(+) ribozyme itself has been claimed to have no ligase activity. Here, we show the evidence that the sTobRV(+) ribozyme has the ability to rejoin its digestion products at low temperatures such as 4 degrees C. In contrast, little or no ligation product can be produced at 50 degrees C, the temperature giving the maximum digestion activity. The ligation reaction requires Mg++ ion. The first substrate (P1, see Fig.1), possessing 2',3' cyclic phosphate, must be RNA, but the second substrate (P2), required to have 5'OH, can be replaced by DNA counterparts, equal to or longer than dimer, thus making it possible to generate RNA-DNA chimeric molecules. We also show the resultant RNA-DNA chimera to be digestable by the sTobRV(+) ribozyme. RNase digestion indicates the phosphodiester linkage thus generated to be exclusively 3'-5'.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1989

Synthesis of N2, N2, 7-trimethylguanosine cap derivatives.

Several derivatives of N2,N2-7-trimethylguanosine (m3(2,2,7G)-cap, which was found at the 5' ends of small nuclear RNAs, were synthesized by use of S-phenyl N2,N2,7-trimethylguanosine 5'-phosphorothioate (PhSpm3(2,2,7)G) as a key intermediate. This compound was activated by iodine in the presence of phosphoric acid and diphosphoric acid to give N2,N2,7-trimethylguanosine-5'-diphosphate (ppm3(2,2,7)G) and 5'-triphosphate (ppm3(2,2,7)G), respectively. Similar reactions of PhSpm3(2,2,7)G with ADP and GDP gave capped dinucleoside triphosphates, m3(2,2,7)G5'pppA and m3(2,2,7)G5'pppG, respectively.

Adenosine Diphosphate↗
PubMed1989

Pre-mRNA with a trimethylguanosine cap structure can be spliced efficiently in vitro.

A chemically synthesized 2,2,7-trimethylguanosine cap (TMG-cap) analogue was added to an in vitro pre-mRNA splicing system. A slight inhibition of the splicing was observed, but it was much less remarkable than that by a 7-methylguanosine cap analogue. This result does not favor a direct role of the TMG-cap structure of small nuclear RNAs in pre-mRNA splicing, and suggests that the TMG-cap does not effectively interact with the 7-methylguanosine cap binding factors. Using the SP6 in vitro transcription system and a TMG-cap analogue, we prepared a beta-globin transcript which has a TMG-cap at the 5' end. This TMG-capped transcript was spliced accurately and efficiently in vitro.

Binding, Competitive↗
PubMed1988

Expression of the ada gene of Escherichia coli in response to alkylating agents. Identification of transcriptional regulatory elements.

Ada protein plays a central role in the regulatory synthesis of DNA repair enzymes, following exposure of Escherichia coli to alkylating agents. Methyl groups of alkylated DNA are transferred to Ada protein by its own methyltransferase activity and the methylated Ada protein then acts as a positive regulator to overproduce the ada and related gene products. To elucidate regulatory mechanisms for the expression of the ada gene by its own product, we analyzed the ada promoter region by random and site-directed mutagenesis. A series of deletion analyses revealed that a sequence up to 53 nucleotides upstream from the transcription initiation site is required for the controlled expression of the ada gene. Libraries of base substitution mutants were constructed by synthesizing oligonucleotides corresponding to the ada promoter region in the presence of a small amount of all possible sets of nucleotides. Internal deletion and insertion mutants were also constructed with the use of synthetic oligonucleotides. Using these mutants, the -10 and the -35 boxes of the promoter as well as the ada regulatory sequence were identified, the latter being an eight-nucleotide sequence, AAAGCGCA. A six-nucleotide stretch between the regulatory sequence and the -35 box, also affected levels of expression of the gene. When the promoter DNAs derived from wild type or base substitution mutants that showed normal expression in vivo were used as templates for transcription in vitro, the ada-specific RNA was formed in the presence of a methylated form of Ada protein. With the DNAs derived from mutants of defective type as templates, no or relatively small amounts of the RNA were synthesized. Some base substitution mutants showed a constitutive expression of the gene in vivo, but this observation did not reconcile with findings in experiments in vitro.

Alkylating Agents↗
PubMed1987

Systematic fractionation of oligosaccharides of human immunoglobulin G by serial affinity chromatography on immobilized lectin columns.

Human immunoglobulin G is known to contain 16 different biantennary complex-type asparagine-linked sugar chains, each of which occurs in a nonsialylated, monosialylated, or disialylated form. These oligosaccharides can be separated into 14 fractions by sequential affinity chromatography with Aleuria aurantia lectin (AAL)-Sepharose, RCA120-WG003, and E4-phytohemagglutinin-agarose columns. Twelve of them were found to contain a single oligosaccharide, while the fraction which passed through all three columns was shown to contain two oligosaccharides, GlcNAc beta 1----2Man alpha 1----6(+/- GlcNAc beta 1----4) (GlcNAc beta 1----2Man alpha 1----3)Man beta 1----4GlcNAc beta 1----4GlcNAcOT. The fraction, which bound to the AAL-Sepharose column and passed through the remaining two lectin columns, also contained two oligosaccharides, GlcNAc beta 1----2Man alpha 1----6(+/- GlcNAc beta 1----4) (GlcNAc beta 1----2Man alpha 1----3)Man beta 1----4GlcNAc beta 1----4 (Fuc alpha 1----6)GlcNAcOT. These results indicated that serial affinity chromatography with the three lectin columns can be used effectively to detect changes in the sugar chains of IgG resulting from diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis.

Arthritis, Rheumatoid↗
PubMed1983

[Clinical usefulness of lymphoscintigraphy by rectal submucosal injection of radioactive colloid].

Lymphoscintigraphies about 27 cases were examined by the methods of 11 cases of anal subcutaneous and 17 cases of rectal submucosal injections of 99mTc-rhenium colloid. Para-aortic nodes and common iliac nodes were visualized in more than 70% out of the 27 cases by these methods, and those images were superior to images obtained by the conventional methods with pedal subcutaneous injections. Internal iliac nodes were visualized in 78.1% by the rectal injection method while in 27.3% by the anal injection method. It was concluded that the transrectal injection method should be used to visualize internal iliac nodes. Examination efficacies of lymphoscintigraphies by these methods on detection of lymph nodes metastases which were confirmed by autopsy, operation, contrast lymphoangiography and/or X-ray CT. As for 131 regions of rectal and anal injected cases, sensitivity was calculated at 84.0% and specificity was at 89.6%. When the cases in which more than one definite defect was detected were scintigraphycally diagnosed as positive to metastasis and when calculated case by case, sensitivity was calculated at 90.9% and specificity was at 62.5% in the 27 cases. Lymphatic systems were seen specifically and systematically by using lymphoscintigraphies. Though the sensitivity was not enough for a screening test of lymph node metastases and the specificity was not enough for a test to rule out lymph node metastases, lymphoscintigraphies are clinically very useful as supplementary examinations. The lymphoscintigraphy by the method of rectal submucosal injection is much more useful as it is convenient and is the only one method to visualize the internal iliac nodes systematically.

Evaluation Studies as Topic↗