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Transcription of structural and intervening sequences in the ovalbumin gene and identification of potential ovalbumin mRNA precursors.

Structural sequences that are extensively separated by nonstructural intervening sequences in the natural ovalbumin gene are coordinately expressed in target and nontarget tissue. The intervening sequences, which consist of unique sequences in the chick genome, are transcribed in their entirety. The amount of nuclear RNA corresponding to these sequences, however, is approximately 10 times less than that observed for structural sequences. The accumulation of RNA corresponding to structural and intervening sequences during acute estrogen stimulation suggests either that there are different rates of transcription for these regions of the ovalbumin gene or that RNA sequences corresponding to the intervening sequences are preferentially processed and degraded. Comparison of the in vitro expression of portions of the ovalbumin gene in nuclei isolated from chronically stimulated oviducts indicates that both structural and intervening sequences are preferentially transcribed in vitro at rates approximately 500 times greater than expected for random transcription of the haploid chick genome. In addition, electrophoresis of oviduct nuclear RNA on agarose gels containing methylmercury hydroxide reveals multiple species of RNA that are from 1.3 to over 4 times larger than ovalbumin mRNA and hybridize to both structural and intervening sequences of the ovalbumin gene. These results are consistent with transcription of the entire ovalbumin gene into a large precursor molecule followed by excision of the intervening sequences and appropriate ligation of the structural sequences to form the mature mRNA.

Animals

Regulation of protein synthesis in hen's oviducts. II. Extracellular ovalbumin as an inhibitor of ovalbumin synthesis in the oviducts.

Washed, preincubated minced hen's oviducts, which contained low levels of extracellular and intracellular proteins, synthesized egg-white proteins actively. The addition of ovalbumin to the incubation medium resulted in inhibition of the synthesis of egg-white proteins by the washed, preincubated oviduct cells, while the addition of bovine serum albumin seemed to stimulate protein synthesis and hen's egg-white lysozyme had no effect. The inhibitory or stimulatory effect on protein synthesis was proportional to the amount of protein added to the medium. The inhibitory effect of added ovalbumin was shown not to be due to the incorporation of ovalbumin into the oviduct cells from the incubation medium. Egg-white proteins added to the medium also inhibited protein synthesis inside the cells and the extent of the inhibition appeared to correspond to the amount of ovalbumin present in egg-white.

Animals

The ovalbumin gene. Insertion of ovalbumin gene sequences in chimeric bacterial plasmids.

Double-stranded ovalbumin DNA was amplified and purified by the cloning of bacterial transformants. The double-stranded DNA was synthesized from a complete complementary DNA transcript of ovalbumin mRNA using Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I and the self-priming ability of the initial transcript. After S. nuclease treatment, poly(dA) was added to the 3' termini with terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase and the ovalbumin gene was hybridized to a linear plasmid DNA, pMB9, containing 3'-poly(dT) termini. This hybrid molecule was used to transform the E. coli strain X1849. The cloned transformants contained from 30 to 53% of the complete ovalbumin DNA as determined by hybridization with full length cDNA. The length of the inserts was confirmed by treatment of the isolated plasmids with the restriction enzyme Hha I. Separation of the fragments by agarose gel electrophoresis showed that the amount of inserted DNA in clones tested varied from 680 to 1090 base pairs.

Animals

Effect of estrogen on gene expression in chicken oviduct: evidence for transcriptional control of ovalbumin gene.

The transcription of structural and intervening sequences of the chicken ovalbumin gene was studied in nuclei isolated from the oviduct, liver, and spleen of chickens in different states of estrogen simulation. The concentration of transcripts of structural and intervening DNA sequences was determined by hybridizing the newly synthesized [(3)H]RNA to filters containing cloned ovalbumin cDNA (pOV230) or fragments of the natural ovalbumin gene (pOV2.4 and pOV1.8). Of the RNA synthesized by oviduct nuclei from chickens chronically stimulated with diethylstilbestrol, 0.23% corresponded to ovalbumin mRNA and 0.17% were transcripts of intervening sequences. No detectable ovalbumin mRNA sequences were synthesized by nuclei from spleen and liver. After 60 hr of hormone withdrawal, synthesis of ovalbumin mRNA by oviduct nuclei could not be detected. After readministration of estrogen, a gradual increase in ovalbumin mRNA synthesis was observed which began at 1 hr and reached a plateau by 8 hr. For the intervening sequences, similar kinetics were observed for the initial 4 hr. Previously we had identified multiple species of putative precursors of ovalbumin mRNA in oviduct nuclei from chickens chronically stimulated with diethylstilbestrol. We demonstrate here that withdrawal of diethylstilbestrol resulted in a depletion of high-molecular-weight ovalbumin RNA and of mature ovalbumin mRNA and that readministration of the estrogen induced the nuclear accumulation of both forms of ovalbumin RNA. These findings indicate that: (i) a method exists to assay synthesis of hormone-inducible specific eukaryotic [(3)H]mRNA in vitro; (ii) the estrogen-mediated preferential expression of the ovalbumin gene is maintained in isolated oviduct nuclei; (iii) after hormone withdrawal, a single injection of diethylstilbestrol induces transcription of ovalbumin structural and intervening sequences, with nuclear accumulation of high-molecular-weight ovalbumin RNA and mature ovalbumin mRNA; and (iv) these results are consistent with regulation of ovalbumin mRNA at the level of ovalbumin gene transcription.

Amanitins

Changes in conformation and immunological activity of ovalbumin during its modification with different acid anhydrides.

In order to probe the cause and nature of conformational changes induced by the chemical modification of amino groups in proteins, five acylated derivatives of ovalbumin namely 21% acetylated, 32% succinylated, 90% butyrated 92% succinylated, and 95% acetylated ovalbumins were prepared and their molecular and immunological properties were systematically investigated. As evidenced by the ultraviolet difference spectral, solvent perturbation, gel filtration, and viscosity data, acylation of the amino groups produced a definite conformational change in native ovalbumin whose extent was higher for higher degrees of chemical modification. The solvent pertubation data showed an exposure of 0.5 tryptophan and 3 tyrosine residues in native ovalbumin; the exposure increased to 1 tryptophan and about 5 tyrosine residues in the maximally modified proteins (i.e. 90% butyrated, 92% succinylated, and 95% acetylated ovalbumins). The Stokes radius (2.7 nm) and intrinsic viscosity (3.9 ml/g) of ovalbumin increased, respectively, to about 3.4 nm and 7.7 ml/g upon acylation of its 18 lysine residues; the intrinsic viscosity of 95% acetylated ovalbumin was 7.2 ml/g. The reduced viscosity of ovalbumin (4.2 ml/g) which remained unaltered on raising the pH to pH 11.2, increased to 7.9 ml/g on succinylation of 18 lysine residues. On raising the ionic strength from 0.15 to 1.0, the value decreased from 7.9 to 6.2 ml/g. These observations taken together with the fact that the intrinsic viscosities of 92% succinylated and 90% butyrated ovalbumins are identical, argue against the presently prevalent proposal that electrostatic effects alone are responsible for the disruption of native protein conformation during chemical modification. The immunological activity of ovalbumin towards rabbit anti-ovalbumin expectedly decreased with acylation of its amino groups but the three maximally modified ovalbumins retained 40% immunological activity. This taken along with the spectral and viscosity data showed substantial native structure (format) in the three maximally acylated derivatives. The rabbit antiserum against 95% acetylated ovalbumin did not cross-react with acetylated lysozyme and reacted poorly with the native and 92% succinylated ovalbumins suggesting that the antigenic make-up of the three maximally modified ovalbumins is different.

Acylation

Preparation and preliminary characterization of purified ovalbumin messenger RNA from the hen oviduct.

Preparation of milligram amounts of purified ovalbumin mRNA was accomplished by a sequential combination of precise sizing techniques with the selective purification of the poly(A) containing RNA by either affinity chromatography or adsorption to nitrocellulose filters. Several new techniques were applied to the purification of ovalbumin mRNA including Sepharose 4B chromatography and agarose gel electrophoresis in the presence of 6 M urea at pH 3.5. All the procedures used were adapted on a preparative sacle to the fractionation of large quantities of RNA. The purity of the ovalbumin mRNA was assessed by several independent criteria. (1) Purified ovalbumin mRNA migrated as a single band during both agarose-urea and formamide-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis at pH 3.5 and 7.4, respectively. A single absorbance peak containing all of the ovalbumin mRNA activity was also found using linear formamide-sucrose gradients. (2) Determination of both total mRNA activity and ovalbumin mRNA activity in the wheat germ cell-free translation assay revealed that 92% of the total peptides synthesized were specifically immunoprecipitable with an ovalbumin antiserum. (3) Analysis of the total peptides synthesizied in the wheat germ assay by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis demonstrated the presence of a single radioactive peak that corresponded exactly to a specifically immunoprecipitable ovalbumin standard. Thus, based on these observations ovalbumin mRNA appears to be greater than 95% pure. A preliminary estimation of the molecular weight of purified ovalbumin mRNA by formamide-containing sucrose gradients yielded a value of 520,000 or approximately 1600 nucleotides. This value was considerably less than the value of 900,000 obtained by gel electrophoresis under denaturing conditions. Analysis of the poly(A) content by a hybridization assay with (3H)poly(U) revealed the presence of a poly(A) region containing approximately 70 adenosine residues. Thus, the size of the ovalbumin mRNA is considerably greater than that required to code for a protein of 387 amino acids. The availability of large quantities of purified ovalbumin mRNA should now permit a more thorough analysis of its physical and chemical properties.

Animals

Ovalbumin synthesis in a homologous cell-free system prepared from hen's oviduct.

Hen's oviduct polysomes are present in the precipitates prepared from the oviduct homogenates by low-speed centrifugation, in constrast other eukaryotic polysomes. The polysomes possessed synthesizing activity for ovalbumin. The amount of the released form of ovalbumin (soluble ovalbumin) synthesized in cell-free system A or B, consisting of the cell sap and the total ribosomal fraction or the polysomes, respectively, was about a half of that bound to the polysomes (nascent ovalbumin). The amount of soluble ovalbumin synthesized in cell-free system C, consisting of the pH 5 fraction and the polysomes, was only about 5% of that of nascnet ovalbumin. These results indicate that factors required to release nascent ovalbumin from polysomes are present in the pH 5 supernatant fraction. The soluble and nascent ovalbumins, which were purified by chromatography on a CM-cellulose column and by the use of antiovalbumin antiserum, respectively, seemed to be elongation products the initiations of which were supposed to occur in the oviducts before preparation of the cell-free system. The initiated chains in vitro were found to exist as nascent peptides bound to polysomes. Thus, the cell-free systems prepared in the present study lacked the ability to complete initiated peptide chains. The soluble ovalbumin synthesized in the cell-free systems was indentical with ovalbumin A1 containing two residues of phosphates, which was crystallized from hen's egg-white and was different soluble ovalbumin devoid of the prosthetic group (ovalbumin A3) prepared in the oviduct minces. This result suggests that an enzyme necessary for incorporation of the phosphate is present in the cell sap.

Adenosine Triphosphate

The ovalbumin gene. Partial purification of the coding strand.

Purified ovalbumin messenger RNA was employed to selectively enrich the concentration of the gene coding for ovalbumin from total chick DNA by molecular hybridization. The coding strand of the ovalbumin gene was partially purified from sheared chick DNA by affinity column chromatography using ovalbumin mRNA immobilized on phosphocellulose. The concentrations of the ovalbumin DNA sequence in various DNA fractions were quantitated by measuring their rates of hybridization with 125I-labeled ovalbumin mRNA. When apparent Cot1/2 values of these reactions were compared to the apparent Cot1/2 value obtained from the hybridization reaction between 125I-ovalbumin mRNA and complementary DNA synthesized against ovalbumin mRNA using the enzyme reverse transcriptase, purification of the coding ovalbumin DNA strand over total chick DNA was estimated to be approximately 9,600-fold. There was no apparent degradation of the 4,000 nucleotide strands of chick DNA throughout the purification procedure. Since ovalbumin mRNA has a complexity of 1890 nucleotides, the resulting DNA was more than twice the length of ovalbumin mRNA and thus should contain DNA sequences adjacent to the structural portion of the ovalbumin gene.

Animals

A significant lag in the induction of ovalbumin messenger RNA by steroid hormones: a receptor translocation hypothesis.

Although ovalbumin and conalbumin mRNA accumulate in the same tubular gland cells of the chick oviduct in response to estrogen or progesterone treatment, the kinetics of induction are markedly different. Conalbumin mRNA begins to accumulate within 30 min after estrogen administration, whereas there is a lag of approximately 3 hr before ovalbumin mRNA begins to accumulate, as measured by three independent assays. The kinetics of estrogen-receptor binding to chromatin indicate that these sites are saturated within 15 min of estrogen administration to the chicks, demonstrating that the lag is not due to slow uptake of the steroid. Suboptimal doses of estrogen produce the same lag, but the resultant rate of ovalbumin mRNA accumulation is lower than with an optimal dose. Partial induction of ovalbumin mRNA by a low dose of estrogen does not shorten the lag with an optimal dose. With progesteone, there is a lag of about 2 hr before either ovalbumin or conalbumin mRNA begins to accumulate. Treatment of chicks with hydroxyurea shortens the lag for ovalbumin induction with either hormone. Inhibition of protein synthesis with emetine does not prevent the accumulation of either ovalbumin or conalbumin mRNA. With cycloheximide, however, ovalbumin mRNA accumulation can be prevented. The existence of a lag suggests that there are intermediate steps between the binding of steroid receptors to chromatin and the induction of ovalbumin mRNA. There are basically two models to explain these delays in response: one involving the accumulation of an essential intermediate, and the other involving a rate-limiting translocation of steroid receptors from initial nonproductive chromatin-binding sites to productive sites. Several aspects of the kinetics of ovalbumin mRNA induction are more consistent with the latter model.

Animals

Secondary structure of ovalbumin messenger RNA.

The secondary structure of highly purified ovalbumin mRNA was studied by automated thermal denaturation techniques and the data were subjected to computer processing. Comparative studies with 20 natural and synthetic model nucleic acids suggested that the secondary structure of ovalbumin mRNA possesses the following features: the extent of base pairing of ovalbumin mRNA is similar to that found in tRNAs or ribosomal RNAs; the secondary structure of ovalbumin mRNA is more thermolabile than any of the model compounds tested, including the copolymer poly(A-U); ovalbumin mRNA does not have extensive G-C rich stems as found in tRNAs or ribosomal RNAs; the base composition of the double-stranded regions reveals 54% G-C residues which was significantly higher than that noted in the whole molecule (approximately 41.5% G-C). The presence of 46% A-U pairs in short stems of about five base pairs would have a very large destabilizing effect on the secondary structure of ovalbumin mRNA. However, at 0.175 M monovalent cations and 36 degrees C most of the secondary structure of ovalbumin mRNA is preserved. These data suggest that the double-stranded regions in ovalbumin mRNA are of sufficient length to provide the necessary stability for maintaining the open loop regions in an appropriate conformation which may be required for the biological function of ovalbumin mRNA. Furthermore, the lability of the double-stranded regions in ovalbumin mRNA may also be important for the biological function of this mRNA.

Base Sequence

Immunochemical isolation and characterization of ovalbumin messenger ribonucleic acid.

Hen oviduct ovalbumin messenger RNA has been purified to apparent homogeneity and its physical and molecular properties have been examined. Purification was achieved through the use of indirect immunoprecipitation to isolate ovalbumin synthesizing polysomes and the use of poly(U)-Sepharose chromatography to separate quantitatively ovalbumin messenger RNA from ribosomal RNA. Ovalbumin mRNA was purified 90 to 100-fold over oviduct polysomal RNA as judged by both the rate of hybridization to a complementary DNA and by translation in a rabbit reticulocyte lysate protein-synthesizing system. Isolated ovalbumin mRNA migrates as a single sharp symmetrical peak on sucrose gradient sedimentation and polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. The molecular weight of ovalbumin mRNA determined by sedimentation in denaturing dimethylsulfoxide gradients is 700,000 (equivalent to 2,180 nucleotides). The complexity of purified ovalbumin mRNA determined from the relative rate of hybridization to a complementary DNA is 2,280 nucleotides. Since ovalbumin synthesis requires only 1,161 nucleotides, ovalbumin mRNA appears to contain approximately 1,150 untranslated nucleotides. The average length of the polyadenylate sequence in ovalbumin mRNA is only 44 nucleotides and it does not account for significant fraction of the untranslated nucleotides.

Adenine Nucleotides

Regulation of expression of the chicken ovalbumin gene: interactions between steroid hormones and second messenger systems.

The chicken ovalbumin gene is subject to multihormonal regulation. Maximal expression of it requires not only the synergistic effects of estrogen and corticosterone, but also the permissive effects of insulin. In addition to effects on transcription, the stability of its message is greatly enhanced by estrogen. Furthermore, two signal transduction pathways involving protein kinases have been implicated in the regulation of the ovalbumin gene. To better define the role of second messengers on expression of the ovalbumin gene, the effects of the protein kinase-C (PKC) and the cAMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) pathways on the endogenous levels of ovalbumin mRNA and the transcription of an ovalbumin fusion gene were investigated. Primary cultures of oviduct cells were treated with phorbol 12-myristilate 13-acetate (an activator of PKC) or with forskolin and 3-isobutyl-1-methylxanthine (an activator of PKA) alone, activators plus estrogen and corticosterone, or activators plus both steroids and insulin. The results indicate that phorbol 12-myristilate 13-acetate causes a dramatic destabilization of ovalbumin message, resulting in a reduction in ovalbumin mRNA levels. In contrast, the activators of the PKA system can substitute for insulin and, thereby, increase expression of the ovalbumin gene synergistically with the steroids. The effect of the activators of the PKA system is at the level of transcription. Thus, in chicken oviduct cell cultures, the PKA and PKC signal transduction pathways act in opposing ways to modulate the steroid-induced expression of the ovalbumin gene.

1-Methyl-3-isobutylxanthine

Induction of ovalbumin mRNA sequences by estrogen and progesterone in chick oviduct as measured by hybridization to complementary DNA.

A complementary DNA synthesized from ovalbumin mRNA was used in hybridization experiments to study the early effect of estrogen and progesterone on the accumulation of ovalbumin mRNA sequences in the chick oviduct. Chicks treated with estrogen withdrawn from the hormone maintain a steady level of 60 molecules of ovalbumin mRNA per tubular gland cell, at least 80% of which are localized in the cytoplasm. After estrogen administration, there is a 3- to 4-hour lag before a rapid increase in the number of ovalbumin mRNA sequences and a parallel increase in ovalbumin synthesis. Progesterone causes a more rapid increase in both ovalbumin mRNA sequences and ovalbumin synthesis with a lag period of only 90 min. The hybridization results demonstrate that both estrogen and pregesterone affect the amount of ovalbumin mRNA per cell. The 3-hour lag period seen with estrogen appears to be caused by some event after the binding of the estrogen receptor to chromatin but prior to change in the rate of transcription of the ovalbumin gene.

Animals

The ovalbumin gene: alleles created by mutations in the intervening sequences of the natural gene.

Two allelic forms of the natural chicken ovalbumin gene have been independently cloned. These alleles differ from each other by an Eco RI restriction cleavage site in one of the seven intervening sequences within the natural ovalbumin gene. Restriction endonuclease mapping and sequence analyses of these cloned genotypic alleles have shown identical sequence organization and molecular structures of the interspersed structural and intervening sequences except for the particular Eco RI cleavage site. Sequencing data of the cloned DNA suggest that this Eco RI site may be created or eliminated by a single base mutation in the intervening sequence of the ovalbumin gene. The occurrence of apparent homozygous and heterozygous allelic forms of the ovalbumin gene in individual hens and roosters within the same breed has been observed. 10 and 40% of the chickens examined are homozygous for the ovalbumin gene with and without the extra Eco RI site, respectively, while 50% of them are heterozygous. Further analysis of individual chicken DNA cleaved by restriction endonuclease Hae III has revealed that there may be a series of such mutational variations within the ovalbumin gene. We have identified two Hae III cleavage sites that do not occur in all of the chickens, thus giving rise to several additional allelic variations of the ovalbumin gene. At least one of these Hae III sites is situated in the intervening sequence of the ovalbumin gene, and its lcoation has been mapped. Such allelic variations must be taken into consideration when determining eucaryotic gene structure by restriction mapping of the genomic DNA. Furthermore, this type of mutation within the intervening sequences of an eucaryotic gene has no known phenotypic manifestation. It represents an extrastructural silent mutation that must be taken account of in studies to estimate the rates of eucaryotic gene sequence divergence during evolution.

Alleles