From the Division of Nephrology, Johns Hopkins School
of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland 21205 and the § Department
of Pediatrics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine,
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, 19104
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ABSTRACT |
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The sodium/myo-inositol cotransporter is a plasma membrane protein responsible for concentrative cellular accumulation of myo-inositol in a variety of tissues. When cells in kidney and brain are exposed to a hyperosmolar salt condition (hypertonicity) due to the operation of urinary concentration mechanism and pathological conditions, respectively, they survive the stress of hypertonicity by raising the cellular concentration of myo-inositol. Transcription of the sodium/myo-inositol cotransporter gene is markedly stimulated in response to hypertonicity, leading to an increase in the activity of the cotransporter, which in turn drives the osmoprotective accumulation of myo-inositol. To understand the molecular mechanisms by which hypertonicity stimulates transcription, we analyzed the 5'-flanking region of the cotransporter gene for cis-acting regulatory sequences. We identified five tonicity-responsive enhancers that are scattered over 50 kilobase pairs. All the enhancers are variations of the same type of enhancer interacting with the transcription factor named tonicity-responsive enhancer binding protein. In vivo methylation experiments demonstrated that exposure of cells to hypertonicity increases the binding of tonicity-responsive enhancer binding protein to the enhancer sites, indicating that all of these enhancers are involved in the transcriptional stimulation. We conclude that the sodium/myo-inositol cotransporter gene is regulated by a large region (~50 kilobase pairs) upstream of the gene.
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INTRODUCTION |
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The sodium/myo-inositol cotransporter (SMIT)1 is a plasma membrane protein catalyzing concentrative uptake of myo-inositol (MI) using the electrochemical gradient of sodium across the cell membrane (1). Since two sodium ions are coupled per molecule of MI (2), SMIT can transport MI against a 1,000-fold concentration gradient, i.e. 50 mM in a cell versus 50 µM in the plasma. The level of SMIT activity determines the steady-state cellular concentration of MI at the point where uptake and leak balance out.
SMIT is most abundantly expressed in the kidney medulla (1, 3), which is hypertonic most of the time because of the operation of the urinary concentration mechanisms. The high level of SMIT expression in the renal medulla is secondary to the hypertonicity of this tissue in that SMIT mRNA abundance changes pari passu with the tonicity of the medulla (3, 4). The changes in mRNA abundance are primarily due to changes in transcription (5). When SMIT is inhibited under hypertonic conditions in cultured cells (6) or in kidneys in vivo (7), cells undergo necrosis demonstrating the importance of maintaining a high level of SMIT activity in a hypertonic environment.
How elevated SMIT activity protects the renal cells is explained by the
theory of compatible osmolytes (8). It is useful to note that
osmolarity inside a mammalian cell is always in equilibrium with
interstitial osmolarity because blood facing plasma membranes are
highly permeable to water and very compliant mechanically. Immediately
after cells are exposed to hypertonicity, cellular ionic strength is
elevated due to osmosis. When the cells are kept in hypertonicity for
more than several hours, they accumulate small organic solutes called
compatible osmolytes and, as a result, lower cellular ionic strength
toward the isotonic level. If and when accumulation of compatible
osmolytes is prevented, cells do not survive (6, 7, 9), probably
because of the effects of elevated cellular ionic strength (8). The
major compatible osmolytes in the hypertonic medulla are MI, betaine,
sorbitol, taurine, and glycerophosphorylcholine (10). Like MI,
accumulation of betaine and sorbitol is also regulated at the level of
transcription; hypertonicity stimulates transcription of the genes for
the sodium- and chloride-coupled betaine/-aminobutyric
acid transporter (BGT1) and aldose reductase (AR: catalyzes synthesis
of sorbitol), leading to an increase in their activity, which results
in an increase in cellular concentration of betaine and sorbitol (11).
The signal for stimulation of transcription is most likely the cellular ionic strength because induction of AR correlates highly with the sum
of cellular sodium and potassium concentration (12). The abundance of
BGT1 (13) and SMIT (14) mRNA also correlates positively with
cellular ionic strength.
During hypernatremia, which results in systemic hypertonicity, brain (15), and eye (16) accumulate compatible osmolytes including MI. SMIT mRNA is expressed throughout brain in neurons and glial cells (17) and in eye (18). Hypernatremia increases the abundance of SMIT mRNA in brain (17, 19) and eye (18), presumably due to an increase in transcription. Thus, the SMIT gene in non-renal cells responds to hypertonicity in the same way as it does in renal cells.
Studies of regulatory cis-elements involved in the regulation of transcription uncovered two tonicity-responsive enhancers (TonEs) within 185 bp upstream of the BGT1 gene (20).2 The AR gene is regulated by three TonEs located about 1 kb upstream of the transcription start site (21). All the TonEs of the BGT1 and AR genes are functionally the same; they share a high level of sequence similarity, and all of them specifically bind to a nuclear protein named TonE-binding protein (TonEBP) (22). Cloning of TonEBP revealed that it is a transcription factor mediating the effect of TonE.3 When kidney-derived MDCK cells are exposed to hypertonicity, the activity of TonEBP is stimulated leading to the binding of TonEBP to TonE sites of the BGT1 gene and concurrent stimulation of transcription (22). Thus, stimulation of TonEBP activity is central to the hypertonicity-induced stimulation of transcription.
In this study, the 5'-flanking region of the SMIT gene is analyzed to identify regulatory cis-elements. Five TonEs spread over 50 kb are identified. All of them appear to contribute to the regulation of SMIT gene transcription, indicating that regulation of SMIT involves unusually but not unprecedentedly long range interactions between regulatory sequences and promoter.
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EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES |
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Cell Culture-- MDCK cells were maintained in defined medium as described previously (5). HeLa cells were maintained in Eagle's spinner modification of minimum essential medium (Biofluids) supplemented with 5% horse serum. Medium was made hypertonic by adding 200 mM raffinose to defined medium or 100 mM NaCl to Eagle's spinner modification of minimum essential medium.
Restriction Mapping of P1 Clones and Localization of SacI Fragments-- DNA from two P1 clones, 3283 and 3284 (23), was digested with NotI, ClaI, or MluI and then size-fractionated by pulse-field electrophoresis using the following settings: initial A time 1 s, final A time 10 s, A/B ratio of 1,200 V, run time 20 h in 0.5× TBE containing 45 mM Tris, 45 mM borate, and 1 mM EDTA. Southern blots were prepared and probed with T7 and SP6 oligonucleotides (specific for the P1 vector sequence flanking the cloning site) as well as various restriction fragments to delineate the restriction map shown in Fig. 1. To localize the S14 and S31 fragments (Fig. 1), P1 clones 3283 and 3284 were linearized with NotI digestion and then a series of SacI partial digestions with progressively less amount of enzyme were obtained. Southern blots of the partially digested DNA was hybridized to T7 oligonucleotide to determine the location of S14 and S31 fragments. The results were confirmed by hybridization of S14 and S31 fragments to Southern blots of P1 DNA.
Subcloning of 5'-Flanking Region of the Human SMIT Gene and
Reporter Plasmid Construction--
In order to obtain subclones of the
5'-flanking region of the human SMIT gene, DNA from the P1 3283 was
digested with SacI and shot-gun cloned in pBluescriptII
(Stratagen). Clones derived from the 5'-flanking region were identified
by hybridization to Southern blots of NotI-digested P1 clone
3283. Nine non-overlapping SacI clones that cover 47 kb out
of the 60-kb 5' franking region of human SMIT gene (see Fig. 1) were
obtained. To test tonicity-responsive regulatory activity of the
SacI fragments, each SacI fragment was subcloned
in front of the SMIT promoter ((128/+134) fragment) and the
luciferase reporter gene using pGL2-basic (Promega) (23). Some of the
SacI fragments displaying enhancer activity were divided into smaller fragments (see Fig. 2), which were again tested for tonicity-responsive enhancer activity as above. Likewise, synthetic DNA
fragments (Table I and Fig. 3) were also tested for tonicity-responsive enhancer activity.
Site-directed Mutagenesis-- TonE sequences in the S14-c and S14-g fragments (Fig. 3) were mutated to inactivate their enhancer activity using PCR. To mutate TonEA, fragment S14-c was separately amplified with two pairs of primers. The first pair was gggctgcatTGGGTGTTTTTATGGGA (primer A1; the sequence at one end of S14-c is in uppercase letters, and the PstI site added is shown in lowercase letters) and GCTCTTGGTcGTTaTCaACTTGC (TonEA portion is underlined (antisense strand); lowercase letters represent mutations) while the second pair was GCAAGTtGAtAACgACCAAGAGC (TonEA portion is underlined (sense strand); lowercase letters represent mutations) and gggctgacgGCGGAACAGCAGAT (primer A2; the sequence at one end of S14-c is in uppercase letters, and the PstI site added is shown in lowercase letters). To generate S14-c with mutations in TonEA, aliquots (1 µl each) of the two PCR products were mixed and subjected to PCR amplification using primer A1 and A2. The resulting mutations were confirmed by sequencing. TonEB2 in the S14-g was mutated in the same way using the following two sets of primers: gggctgcagGAATTCCACATTTCGTT (primer B1) and GATGTTTGGcATTaTCaAGCTAA (TonEB2/3 is underlined; antisense strand); TTAGCTtGAtAATgCCAAACATC (TonEB2/3 is underlined; sense strand) and gggctgcagAAGCTTCTTTCCTAGTC (primer B2). These mutations in TonEB2 are also expected (22) to inactivate TonEB3, which overlaps with TonEB2 in the antisense direction (see Table II). All the mutant fragments were sequenced completely to confirm the mutations and also to verify that the sequence outside the TonE regions remain unchanged.
To prepare S31-ds (Fig. 3), S31-d was PCR-amplified using primer C1 (gggctcgagAGAGGTGGAAAATTACAGGCA; the sequence of TonEC1 is underlined, and the XhoI site added is shown in lowercase letters) and primer C2 (cccctgcagTGAGTAACTTTCCATGCCACC; the antisense sequence of TonEC2 is underlined, and the PstI site added is shown in lowercase letters). Primer mC1 (gggctcgagAGAGGTtGAtAATgACAGGCA) was used in place of primer C1 to mutate TonEC1 in S31-ds. Likewise, primer mC2 (cccctgcagTGAGTcACTaTCaATGCCACC) was used to mutate TonEC2. All these fragments were sequenced completely for verification.Cell Transfection--
The reporter plasmid constructs were
transfected into MDCK cells using the DEAE-dextran method as described
previously (22). Briefly, 2 µg of each reporter construct or 10 ng of
-actin construct (the luciferase gene under the strong promoter of
the
-actin gene) was transfected with 50 ng of pRL/CMV, a plasmid
containing the Renilla luciferase gene under control of CMV
promoter. Transfected cells were cultured in isotonic defined medium
for 20 h and then for an additional 20 h in isotonic or
hypertonic medium. Cell extracts were prepared, and the activity of
Photinus and Renilla luciferase was determined
using dual-luciferase reporter assay system (Promega). For each
extract, the activity of the Photinus luciferase was divided
by the activity of the Renilla luciferase to correct for
transfection efficiency. Under each tonicity condition, i.e.
isotonic or hypertonic, the corrected activity from cells transfected
with a test construct was again divided by that from cells transfected
with the
-actin construct. The resulting luciferase activity
standardized for the
-actin promoter was used to calculate -fold
induction of luciferase by hypertonicity: activity of luciferase in
hypertonic medium divided by activity of luciferase in isotonic medium.
Each experiment (n = 1) was performed in duplicate
dishes.
Preparation of Nuclear Extracts and Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assay (EMSA)-- MDCK cells or HeLa cells cultured in isotonic or hypertonic medium were chilled to 4 °C, and nuclear extracts were prepared as described previously (22). To prepare probes for EMSA shown in Table I, single-stranded oligonucleotides were synthesized and purified. 200 pmol each of complementary oligonucleotides were annealed in 100 µl containing 100 mM NaCl to obtain a double-stranded probe. Five µg of nuclear extract was incubated initially for 10 min at room temperature in 20 µl containing 20 mM HEPES (pH 7.9), 100 mM KCl, 0.1 mM EDTA, 10% glycerol, 1 mM dithiothreitol, and 1.5 µg of poly(dA-dT), 5 mM MgCl2. The mixture was then incubated for an additional 20 min after adding 32P-labeled probe with or without an unlabeled competitor. The reaction was electrophoresed on a 4% polyacrylamide gel (79:1, acrylamide:bis) in 0.5× TBE buffer. The gel was dried and exposed to a PhosphorImage screen. The radioactivity was visualized and quantified using PhosphorImager and ImageQuant software (Molecular Dynamics).
In Vivo Footprinting-- In order to methylate G residues of the genomic DNA in vivo, HeLa cells in isotonic or hypertonic medium were incubated in the same medium containing 0.1% dimethyl sulfate for 2 min at room temperature. Cells were washed with phosphate-buffered saline twice to remove dimethyl sulfate, and DNA was isolated. The methylated DNA was converted to a single-stranded form and cleaved at sites immediately 3' to the methylated G residues by treatment with piperidine (Sigma) at 90 °C for 30 min. The cleaved G residues were detected using ligation-mediated PCR as described (22). The cleaved DNA was annealed to primer AP1 (CTCACTGTTCAACAAAAGCCC), BP1 (GTGACCTCATGGGTGGTGGT), CP1 (GATAGAATGAGGTGGGAGGA), or pP1 (GAATGTTCCAGAACCCCTG) to synthesize the first strand DNA covering the TonEA, TonEB2, TonEC2, or TonEp region, respectively. A staggered double-stranded linker (22) was ligated, and 18 cycles of PCR were performed at the specific annealing temperature using a nested primer: AP2 (CTCCCATGCAGTGAAGAGCTGGCCC), BP2 (TGGGGAAGACAGCAGCAGAAGCAAG), CP2 (GAGGCAGGCAGCTTGGAACCAAGAA), or pP2 (TTCCAGAACCCCTGCGAGCAGCCGTT). Two additional rounds of PCR were performed using a 32P-labeled nested primer. The reaction was electrophoresed on a sequencing gel with sequencing ladder. Radioactivity was detected and quantified as described above.
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RESULTS |
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Localization of Tonicity-responsive Enhancer Activity in the
5'-Flanking Region of the SMIT Gene--
Previously, we cloned the
canine SMIT gene and a total of 15 kb of flanking sequence (11 kb from
the 5' side and 4 kb from the 3' side) from overlapping clones
(24). When we examined the entire cloned region including the flanking
regions for tonicity-responsive regulatory activity, we detected only a
small tonicity-responsive enhancer activity, less than 2-fold
stimulation of the SMIT promoter in response to hypertonicity (see
below), which is localized within (
2,900/
119) relative nucleotide
region. Other investigators (16) studying the bovine SMIT gene reported
a TonE sequence similar to those of the BGT1 and AR genes (22) at
(
346/
336) relative nucleotide position. This enhancer stimulates
the SMIT promoter about 2-fold in response to hypertonicity (16).
Because transcription of the SMIT gene is stimulated over 10-fold under the same hypertonic conditions (5, 16), we anticipated more regulatory
sequences outside (further upstream and/or downstream) the cloned
region. To explore this possibility, we decided to search further
upstream of the gene for more tonicity-responsive regulatory sequences.
We turned to the two P1 clones (23), which contain the human SMIT gene
and about 60 kb of 5'-flanking sequence (Fig.
1). The structure and sequence of the
human SMIT gene is very similar to that of the canine gene (23). In
addition, like the canine SMIT gene, the immediate 5'-flanking region
of the human SMIT gene, the (
2,444/
130) relative nucleotide region, also displayed small tonicity-responsive enhancer activity (23).
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Characterization of SMIT Tonicity-responsive Enhancers -- The DNA fragments S14 and S31 were divided into smaller restriction fragments and tested for tonicity-responsive enhancer activity (Fig. 2). The enhancer activity of S14 was narrowed to two small fragments: S14-c (357 bp) and S14-g (588 bp). Likewise, the enhancer activity of S31 was confined to an 877-bp fragment named S31-d. Sequencing of these fragments revealed that each of them contains one or more sequences (Table II) that fit the consensus of TonEs for the BGT1 and AR genes (22): YGGAANNNYNY (Y is C or T; N is any nucleotide). We investigated whether these TonEs are indeed responsible for the enhancer activity.
S14-c has only one TonE named TonEA. When three of the key residues (22) of TonEA were mutated to inactivate it (see "Experimental Procedures"), the enhancer activity of S14-c was lost; -fold induction of luciferase decreased from 2.66 (S14-c) to 1.44 (S14-c/mTonEA, Fig. 3). It was concluded that TonEA was responsible for the enhancer activity of S14-c.
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EMSA of SMIT TonEs-- Previously, we identified a 200-kDa nuclear protein of MDCK cells named TonEBP, which displays very slow mobility in non-denaturing gel electrophoresis (22). Recent cloning of TonEBP3 demonstrate that it is a transcription factor mediating the enhancer activity of TonEs. Since the SMIT TonEs described above are of human origin, we searched for human cells to study the regulation of SMIT transcription. We found that HeLa cells expressed SMIT and AR mRNA, the abundance of which was stimulated ~10-fold by hypertonicity as in MDCK and other kidney-derived cells (data not shown). Nuclear extracts of HeLa cells displayed TonEBP bands in EMSA gels when "hTonE," a prototypical TonE (22), was used as a probe (Fig. 4A, right); TonEBP of HeLa cells were indistinguishable (data not shown) from TonEBP of MDCK cells in their binding specificity described previously (22). On the other hand, all the other bands including the dominant band in the HeLa lanes about a third of the way down do not display correct binding specificity, indicating that they are not TonEBP: they are either not competed by active TonE sequences or competed by inactive TonE sequences (data not shown). We conclude that HeLa cells possess functional TonEBP.
When TonEA was used as a probe, TonEBP are also detected from MDCK and HeLa cells as expected (Fig. 4A, left). To quantify binding of the SMIT TonEs to TonEBP, we measured the ability of each SMIT TonE to compete hTonE binding to TonEBP as described in the legend for Fig. 4B. Under these conditions, functional (or active) TonEs compete better than 50% (22). As shown in Fig. 4B, all the active SMIT TonEs (TonEA, TonEB(2/3), TonEC1, TonEC2, and TonEp) competed away more than 60% of hTonE binding, demonstrating that these TonEs are functional, consistent with the data presented in Fig. 4. On the other hand, TonEB1 and TonEC3 competed poorly, in keeping with their lack of enhancer activity (Fig. 4B). Collectively, the data in Figs. 3 and 4 prove that the SMIT TonEs reported here are functionally identical to the TonEs of the BGT1 and AR genes (22).Increase in Site Occupancy of the SMIT TonEs in Response to
Hypertonicity--
When MDCK cells are exposed to hypertonicity,
activity of TonEBP is markedly stimulated, leading to an increase in
TonEBP binding to the TonE sites upstream of the BGT1 gene and
stimulation of BGT1 transcription (22).2 The increase in
TonEBP activity in HeLa cells in response to hypertonicity (Fig. 4)
predicts that there should be a parallel increase in binding of TonEBP
to the SMIT TonEs. To address this issue directly, we performed
in vivo footprinting assays where methylation of G residues
on HeLa genomic DNA by treatment with dimethyl sulfate was measured
using quantitative PCR as described under "Experimental
Procedures." Nested PCR primers were designed to examine regions
covering TonEA, TonEB2, TonEC2, and TonEp (Fig. 5). We did not detect any consistent
change in methylation outside the TonE sites described below. In TonEA,
methylation of the 2nd and 3rd G residues is decreased by 46% in
hypertonicity. Likewise, methylation of the 2nd G in TonEB2 and TonEC2
was inhibited by 36 and 33%, respectively. In TonEB2 and TonEC2, the
3rd G residues were not methylated even in control DNA (data not
shown), indicating that these nucleotides are inaccessible to dimethyl
sulfate. It was not possible to examine the TonEp region in the sense
direction because (300/
50) region is GC-rich (83%) and repetitive.
We managed to come up with a pair of PCR primers covering TonEp in the
antisense direction. G residues complementary to the last two C
residues were protected from methylation by 30% in hypertonicity. Collectively, the data in Fig. 5 demonstrate that activated TonEBP gets
access to and binds to all the SMIT TonEs spread over 50 kb, providing
in vivo functional support to the idea that all the TonEs
contribute to the stimulation of transcription by hypertonicity.
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DISCUSSION |
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When kidney-derived cells are challenged with hypertonicity, transcription of the SMIT (5), BGT1 (25), and AR (26) genes increases over 10-fold. Expression of the reporter gene controlled by two TonEs2 and the promoter within 185 bp of the BGT1 gene (20) or three TonEs ~1 kb upstream of the AR gene and its promoter (21) is also stimulated over 10-fold by hypertonicity. On the other hand, ~3 kb immediate upstream of the SMIT gene containing a TonE (TonEp) induces reporter gene expression at most 2-fold in response to hypertonicity (16, 23, 24), indicating that the major cis-regulatory sequences are outside this region. Our previous efforts (24) established that the putative major regulatory sequences are outside the 52 kb of the cloned canine genomic region containing the entire SMIT gene, 11 kb of 5'-flanking, and 4 kb of 3'-flanking sequence. The data presented in this paper demonstrate that the additional regulatory sequences are spread in the region 15-55 kb upstream of the human gene as a form of four TonEs: TonEA, TonEB2, TonEC1, and TonEC2. The five TonEs (including TonEp) would provide enough additive enhancer activity to account for greater than 10-fold stimulation of transcription in response to hypertonicity. The most convincing support for this idea is the in vivo footprinting data (Fig. 5), which show that at least four out of the five TonE sites are active in that binding to these sites is increased under hypertonicity as in the TonE sites of the BGT1 gene (22).2
The osmo-protective accumulation of compatible osmolytes is conserved throughout evolution (8). Interestingly, the role of transcription is also widely conserved. In bacteria, transcription of the Pro U operon is markedly stimulated by hypertonicity, resulting in an increase in the activity of the ATP-consuming betaine transporter and accumulation of betaine (27). In yeast, transcription of GPD1 is stimulated by hypertonicity leading to an increased synthesis and accumulation of glycerol (28), which is the major yeast compatible osmolyte. Exposure of plants including sugar beet, spinach, and barley to high salt environments results in transcriptional stimulation of the betaine aldehyde dehydrogenase gene and consequent synthesis and accumulation of betaine (29). The molecular basis for the foregoing transcriptional regulation is not clear. Transcriptional regulation is far better understood for accumulation of MI, betaine, and sorbitol in mammalian cells. This work and previous studies (22) collectively demonstrate that a cis-element TonE and its cognate transcription factor TonEBP play the central role in the hypertonicity-induced stimulation of the SMIT, BGT1, and AR genes.
The consensus sequence of TonE, YGGAAnnnYnY (Table II), was based on (a) seven known TonE sequences at the time and (b) analysis of nine TonE mutants where each mutant has a single nucleotide mutated in one of nine different positions (22). Inspection of five additional TonEs identified in this paper provides further insight into the consensus. Most TonEs, 10 out of 11 known TonEs so far (TonEC1 is the same as hTonE in Ref. 22), start with T rather than C. The sixth nucleotide ("n" in the consensus) is A in all the TonEs, even though mutating A to T affects its activity only moderately (22). Therefore, a more definitive consensus sequence is TGGAAAnnYnY (Table II). In DNA with random sequence, this sequence should be present on average 1 in every 16 kb. This should be an underestimate because certain nucleotides are flexible, i.e. the first and sixth nucleotides. In this regard, the 5'-flanking region of the SMIT gene is not particularly rich in TonEs: Five TonEs in ~50 kb recovered from 60 kb of the 5'-flanking region or an average of one in every ~10 kb, a value close to the expected frequency. This contrasts with the BGT1 and AR genes, where TonEs are more concentrated near the promoter; two TonEs within 185 bp upstream of the BGT1 gene and three TonEs within 1.2 kb upstream of the AR gene. It is possible that the five SMIT TonEs spread over 50 kb are physically close to the promoter, perhaps by way of multiple long range looping, and act additively to stimulate the SMIT promoter. This is based on the observation that bringing TonEC1 and TonEC2 closer (from 494 bp apart in S31-d to 20 bp apart in TonEC123; Fig. 3) increases the enhancer activity. The binding of TonEBP to the TonE sites in hypertonicity (Fig. 5) may facilitate the looping or reorganization of local chromatin structure to enable additive action of the bound TonEBP to the promoter.
Regulation of transcription by enhancers located far from the gene is
well established. In the locus control region for the -globin gene
cluster, five enhancers spread over 15 kb are believed to function as a
single unit or holocomplex where all the enhancers are brought close to
each other (30). In adult erythrocyte precursors, the locus control
region stimulates transcription of the
-globin gene located some 40 kb downstream (30). Studies involving homologous deletion of genomic
sequences in mice revealed that the insulin-like growth factor 2 gene
is regulated by a pair of enhancers ~90 kb away from the gene (31).
Although the insulin-like growth factor 2 and
-globin genes are
regulated by imprinting and developmental cues, respectively, the
distant enhancers and the locus control region are constitutively
active in adult tissues. In contrast, the SMIT TonEs are regulated by
ever-changing fluctuations in tonicity. In this regard, the SMIT TonEs
are a rare and important model system that provides an unusual
opportunity to study the role of chromatin structure in regulation of
gene expression in response to physiological and pathological
signals.
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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT |
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We thank S. K. Woo for providing nuclear extracts of HeLa cells.
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FOOTNOTES |
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* This work was supported by National Institutes of Health Grant DK42479 (to H. M. K.), a fellowship from the Juvenile Diabetes Foundation International (to J. S. R.), and National Research Service Awards Grants DK07712 and DK09469 (to M. G. A.).The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. The article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
¶ To whom all correspondence should be addressed: 963 Ross Bldg., 720 Rutland Ave., Baltimore, MD 21205. Tel.: 410-614-0085; Fax: 410-614-5129; E-mail: mkwon{at}welchlink.welch.jhu.edu.
The abbreviations used are:
SMIT, the
sodium/myo-inositol cotransporterMI, myo-inositolBGT1, the sodium- and chloride-coupled
betaine/-aminobutyrate transporterAR, aldose reductaseTonE, tonicity-responsive enhancerTonEBP, TonE-binding proteinEMSA, electrophoretic mobility shift assayMDCK, Madin-Darby canine kidneyPCR, polymerase chain reactionbp, base pair(s)kb, kilobase
pair(s).
2 H. Miyakawa, J. S. Rim, and H. M. Kwon, unpublished observations.
3 H. Miyakawa, S. K. Woo, and H. M. Kwon, unpublished observations.
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REFERENCES |
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