Skip to main content
Molecular and Cellular Biology logoLink to Molecular and Cellular Biology
. 1990 Sep;10(9):4555–4564. doi: 10.1128/mcb.10.9.4555

Identification and characterization of transcriptional arrest sites in exon 1 of the human adenosine deaminase gene.

Z Chen 1, M L Harless 1, D A Wright 1, R E Kellems 1
PMCID: PMC361043  PMID: 1697031

Abstract

Analysis of human adenosine deaminase (ADA) gene transcription in four different cell lines indicated that a high density of RNA polymerase II complexes is present at the 5' end of the gene and that the extent of transcription elongation beyond the promoter-proximal region governs gene expression. To determine the sequence requirements for a potential transcription arrest site in the promoter-proximal region, genomic clones containing the ADA promoter, exon 1, and various lengths of intron 1 were injected into Xenopus laevis oocyte germinal vesicles. Transcription analysis indicated that nascent ADA transcripts were highly represented at the promoter-proximal region of the injected templates, suggesting that transcription arrest occurred in the oocyte transcription system. Analysis of the transcription products indicated that ADA transcription initiated at the authentic start site and that the most prominent, short ADA transcripts were 105 nucleotides in length. The 3' end of these transcripts mapped within exon 1, 10 nucleotides downstream of the translation initiation codon. Deletion analysis demonstrated that sequences within exon 1 were sufficient to specify the synthesis of the 105-nucleotide transcripts. Taken together, these data suggest that a transcription arrest mechanism operates in the promoter-proximal region of the human ADA gene and that regulation of elongation beyond this point plays a major role in regulating ADA gene expression.

Full text

PDF
4555

Images in this article

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Aronow B., Lattier D., Silbiger R., Dusing M., Hutton J., Jones G., Stock J., McNeish J., Potter S., Witte D. Evidence for a complex regulatory array in the first intron of the human adenosine deaminase gene. Genes Dev. 1989 Sep;3(9):1384–1400. doi: 10.1101/gad.3.9.1384. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Ben-Asher E., Aloni Y. Transcription of minute virus of mice, an autonomous parvovirus, may be regulated by attenuation. J Virol. 1984 Oct;52(1):266–276. doi: 10.1128/jvi.52.1.266-276.1984. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bender T. P., Thompson C. B., Kuehl W. M. Differential expression of c-myb mRNA in murine B lymphomas by a block to transcription elongation. Science. 1987 Sep 18;237(4821):1473–1476. doi: 10.1126/science.3498214. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bentley D. L., Groudine M. A block to elongation is largely responsible for decreased transcription of c-myc in differentiated HL60 cells. Nature. 1986 Jun 12;321(6071):702–706. doi: 10.1038/321702a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bentley D. L., Groudine M. Sequence requirements for premature termination of transcription in the human c-myc gene. Cell. 1988 Apr 22;53(2):245–256. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90386-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Chinsky J. M., Maa M. C., Ramamurthy V., Kellems R. E. Adenosine deaminase gene expression. Tissue-dependent regulation of transcriptional elongation. J Biol Chem. 1989 Aug 25;264(24):14561–14565. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Chomczynski P., Sacchi N. Single-step method of RNA isolation by acid guanidinium thiocyanate-phenol-chloroform extraction. Anal Biochem. 1987 Apr;162(1):156–159. doi: 10.1006/abio.1987.9999. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Feinberg A. P., Vogelstein B. A technique for radiolabeling DNA restriction endonuclease fragments to high specific activity. Anal Biochem. 1983 Jul 1;132(1):6–13. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(83)90418-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Fort P., Rech J., Vie A., Piechaczyk M., Bonnieu A., Jeanteur P., Blanchard J. M. Regulation of c-fos gene expression in hamster fibroblasts: initiation and elongation of transcription and mRNA degradation. Nucleic Acids Res. 1987 Jul 24;15(14):5657–5667. doi: 10.1093/nar/15.14.5657. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Friedman D. I., Imperiale M. J., Adhya S. L. RNA 3' end formation in the control of gene expression. Annu Rev Genet. 1987;21:453–488. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.21.120187.002321. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Green M. R., Maniatis T., Melton D. A. Human beta-globin pre-mRNA synthesized in vitro is accurately spliced in Xenopus oocyte nuclei. Cell. 1983 Mar;32(3):681–694. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90054-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Groudine M., Peretz M., Weintraub H. Transcriptional regulation of hemoglobin switching in chicken embryos. Mol Cell Biol. 1981 Mar;1(3):281–288. doi: 10.1128/mcb.1.3.281. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Hall J. L., Dudley L., Dobner P. R., Lewis S. A., Cowan N. J. Identification of two human beta-tubulin isotypes. Mol Cell Biol. 1983 May;3(5):854–862. doi: 10.1128/mcb.3.5.854. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Hawley D. K., Roeder R. G. Separation and partial characterization of three functional steps in transcription initiation by human RNA polymerase II. J Biol Chem. 1985 Jul 5;260(13):8163–8172. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Hay N., Skolnik-David H., Aloni Y. Attenuation in the control of SV40 gene expression. Cell. 1982 May;29(1):183–193. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(82)90102-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Ingolia D. E., Al-Ubaidi M. R., Yeung C. Y., Bigo H. A., Wright D., Kellems R. E. Molecular cloning of the murine adenosine deaminase gene from a genetically enriched source: identification and characterization of the promoter region. Mol Cell Biol. 1986 Dec;6(12):4458–4466. doi: 10.1128/mcb.6.12.4458. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Kao S. Y., Calman A. F., Luciw P. A., Peterlin B. M. Anti-termination of transcription within the long terminal repeat of HIV-1 by tat gene product. Nature. 1987 Dec 3;330(6147):489–493. doi: 10.1038/330489a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Kerppola T. K., Kane C. M. Intrinsic sites of transcription termination and pausing in the c-myc gene. Mol Cell Biol. 1988 Oct;8(10):4389–4394. doi: 10.1128/mcb.8.10.4389. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Lattier D. L., States J. C., Hutton J. J., Wiginton D. A. Cell type-specific transcriptional regulation of the human adenosine deaminase gene. Nucleic Acids Res. 1989 Feb 11;17(3):1061–1076. doi: 10.1093/nar/17.3.1061. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Legerski R. J., Penkala J. E., Peterson C. A., Wright D. A. Repair of UV-induced lesions in Xenopus laevis oocytes. Mol Cell Biol. 1987 Dec;7(12):4317–4323. doi: 10.1128/mcb.7.12.4317. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Lowell C. A., Stearman R. S., Morrow J. F. Transcriptional regulation of serum amyloid A gene expression. J Biol Chem. 1986 Jun 25;261(18):8453–8461. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Miller H., Asselin C., Dufort D., Yang J. Q., Gupta K., Marcu K. B., Nepveu A. A cis-acting element in the promoter region of the murine c-myc gene is necessary for transcriptional block. Mol Cell Biol. 1989 Dec;9(12):5340–5349. doi: 10.1128/mcb.9.12.5340. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Mok M., Maderious A., Chen-Kiang S. Premature termination by human RNA polymerase II occurs temporally in the adenovirus major late transcriptional unit. Mol Cell Biol. 1984 Oct;4(10):2031–2040. doi: 10.1128/mcb.4.10.2031. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Muesing M. A., Smith D. H., Capon D. J. Regulation of mRNA accumulation by a human immunodeficiency virus trans-activator protein. Cell. 1987 Feb 27;48(4):691–701. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90247-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Nepveu A., Marcu K. B. Intragenic pausing and anti-sense transcription within the murine c-myc locus. EMBO J. 1986 Nov;5(11):2859–2865. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1986.tb04580.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Platt T. Transcription termination and the regulation of gene expression. Annu Rev Biochem. 1986;55:339–372. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.55.070186.002011. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Ramamurthy V., Maa M. C., Harless M. L., Wright D. A., Kellems R. E. Sequence requirements for transcriptional arrest in exon 1 of the murine adenosine deaminase gene. Mol Cell Biol. 1990 Apr;10(4):1484–1491. doi: 10.1128/mcb.10.4.1484. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Reddy R., Henning D., Das G., Harless M., Wright D. The capped U6 small nuclear RNA is transcribed by RNA polymerase III. J Biol Chem. 1987 Jan 5;262(1):75–81. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Reines D., Wells D., Chamberlin M. J., Kane C. M. Identification of intrinsic termination sites in vitro for RNA polymerase II within eukaryotic gene sequences. J Mol Biol. 1987 Jul 20;196(2):299–312. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(87)90691-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Rougvie A. E., Lis J. T. The RNA polymerase II molecule at the 5' end of the uninduced hsp70 gene of D. melanogaster is transcriptionally engaged. Cell. 1988 Sep 9;54(6):795–804. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(88)91087-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Selby M. J., Bain E. S., Luciw P. A., Peterlin B. M. Structure, sequence, and position of the stem-loop in tar determine transcriptional elongation by tat through the HIV-1 long terminal repeat. Genes Dev. 1989 Apr;3(4):547–558. doi: 10.1101/gad.3.4.547. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Siciliano M. J., Bordelon M. R., Kohler P. O. Expression of human adenosine deaminase after fusion of adenosine deaminase-deficient cells with mouse fibroblasts. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1978 Feb;75(2):936–940. doi: 10.1073/pnas.75.2.936. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Skarnes W. C., Tessier D. C., Acheson N. H. RNA polymerases stall and/or prematurely terminate nearby both early and late promoters on polyomavirus DNA. J Mol Biol. 1988 Sep 5;203(1):153–171. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(88)90099-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Spencer C. A., LeStrange R. C., Novak U., Hayward W. S., Groudine M. The block to transcription elongation is promoter dependent in normal and Burkitt's lymphoma c-myc alleles. Genes Dev. 1990 Jan;4(1):75–88. doi: 10.1101/gad.4.1.75. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Valerio D., Duyvesteyn M. G., Dekker B. M., Weeda G., Berkvens T. M., van der Voorn L., van Ormondt H., van der Eb A. J. Adenosine deaminase: characterization and expression of a gene with a remarkable promoter. EMBO J. 1985 Feb;4(2):437–443. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1985.tb03648.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Wiginton D. A., Adrian G. S., Friedman R. L., Suttle D. P., Hutton J. J. Cloning of cDNA sequences of human adenosine deaminase. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 Dec;80(24):7481–7485. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.24.7481. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Wright S., Bishop J. M. DNA sequences that mediate attenuation of transcription from the mouse protooncogene myc. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1989 Jan;86(2):505–509. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.2.505. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  38. de Vegvar H. E., Lund E., Dahlberg J. E. 3' end formation of U1 snRNA precursors is coupled to transcription from snRNA promoters. Cell. 1986 Oct 24;47(2):259–266. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90448-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Molecular and Cellular Biology are provided here courtesy of Taylor & Francis

RESOURCES