Interplay between intracellular loop 1 and helix VIII of the angiotensin II type 2 receptor controls its activation.

The signaling mechanisms of the angiotensin II type 2 receptor (AT2R), a heptahelical receptor, have not yet been clearly and completely defined. In the present contribution, we set out to identify the molecular determinants involved in AT2R activation. Although AT2R has not been shown to engage Gq/11, G12, Gi2, and ß-arrestin (ßarr) pathways as does the AT1R upon angiotensin II (AngII) stimulation, the atypical positioning of helix VIII in the recently published AT2R structure may play a role in the receptor's capacity to couple to downstream effectors. In the AT2R structure, helix VIII points inwards and towards intracellular loop 3 (ICL3) to form tertiary interactions with transmembrane domain 6 (TM6), possibly impeding access to signaling effectors. On the other hand, in most class A GPCRs, helix VIII is found to be engaged in tertiary interactions with ICL1 and away from the effector binding site. Upon closer examination of the AT2R structure, we found that the residues contained within intracellular loop 1 (ICL1) may be involved in driving this unusual conformation of helix VIII. To explore this hypothesis, we designed a series of AT1R/AT2R receptor chimeras to validate the roles of ICL1 and helix VIII in AT2R signaling. Substituting the AT1R ICL1 into AT2R led to a mutant receptor that coupled to Gi2. The substitution of the helix VIII and C-terminal domains of AT2R into the AT1R backbone led to a mutant receptor that retained AT1R-like signaling properties. These results suggest that the C-terminal portion of AT2R is compatible with canonical GPCR signaling and that ICL1 of AT2R is involved in repositioning helix VIII, which impedes engagement of classical GPCR effectors such as G proteins or ßarrs.

The neurogenic basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor NeuroD6 enhances mitochondrial biogenesis and bioenergetics to confer tolerance of neuronal PC12-NeuroD6 cells to the mitochondrial stressor rotenone.

The fundamental question of how and which neuronal specific transcription factors tailor mitochondrial biogenesis and bioenergetics to the need of developing neuronal cells has remained largely unexplored. In this study, we report that the neurogenic basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor NeuroD6 possesses mitochondrial biogenic properties by amplifying the mitochondrial DNA content and TFAM expression levels, a key regulator for mitochondrial biogenesis. NeuroD6-mediated increase in mitochondrial biogenesis in the neuronal progenitor-like PC12-NEUROD6 cells is concomitant with enhanced mitochondrial bioenergetic functions, including increased expression levels of specific subunits of respiratory complexes of the electron transport chain, elevated mitochondrial membrane potential and ATP levels produced by oxidative phosphorylation. Thus, NeuroD6 augments the bioenergetic capacity of PC12-NEUROD6 cells to generate an energetic reserve, which confers tolerance to the mitochondrial stressor, rotenone. We found that NeuroD6 induces an adaptive bioenergetic response throughout rotenone treatment involving maintenance of the mitochondrial membrane potential and ATP levels in conjunction with preservation of the actin network. In conclusion, our results support the concept that NeuroD6 plays an integrative role in regulating and coordinating the onset of neuronal differentiation with acquisition of adequate mitochondrial mass and energetic capacity to ensure energy demanding events, such as cytoskeletal remodeling, plasmalemmal expansion, and growth cone formation.

The helix-loop-helix Id-1 inhibits PSA expression in prostate cancer cells.

The inhibitor of basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors, Id-1, is an important gene whose expression increases during prostate cancer progression and that upregulates proliferation, migration and invasion. We used microarray analysis to identify the downstream genes whose transcriptional expression is modulated by Id-1 protein. We compared gene expression in control LNCaP cells and Id-1-transduced LNCaP cells, which become significantly more aggressive after Id-1 overexpression, thus mimicking the high levels of Id-1 detected in metastatic cell lines. We used the Affy HTA U133A Expression Arrays with 45,000 probe sets representing more than 39,000 transcripts. We found that one of the most significantly downregulated genes on Id-1 expression was kallikrein 3 [also called prostate specific antigen (PSA)], the most commonly used biomarker of prostate cancer. Here, we show that the reduction in PSA mRNA and protein expression associated with high-grade prostate cancers, which generally express high levels of Id-1, could be the consequence of Id-1 overexpression.

Expression of neuronal markers during NTera2/cloneD1 differentiation by cell aggregation method.

Human teratocarcinoma NTera2/cloneD1 (NT2) cells are able to generate postmitotic neurons in response to retinoic acid (RA) and for this reason these cells provide an important tool to study human neurogenesis in vitro. We have obtained neurons by treating NT2 aggregated cells with RA for solely 14 days. RT-PCR assays showed that NT2 cells express mRNAs of several neural bHLH genes such as Hes1, Ngn1, Mash1, NeuroD, Math1 and Pax6, just in the early days of RA exposure. In particular, we reported for the first time that RA treatment was followed by a modulation of endogenous Ngn1 and Math1 transcripts. RT-PCR and Western blotting experiments also demonstrated expression of typical neuronal markers such as GluR, MAP2, Tau and NeuN. Knowledge of the expression pattern of the different neuronal genes during NT2 commitment could be used to investigate alterations in the molecular pathways involved in the human neuronal differentiation.

Hypothalamic bHLH transcription factors are novel candidates in the regulation of energy balance.

The basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors, neurological basic-helix-loop-helix-2 (Nhlh-2), neurogenic differentiation-1 (NeuroD-1) and single minded-1 (Sim-1) could have roles in energy balance regulation, although supporting evidence is inconclusive. This study in mice provides further evidence that Nhlh-2 and NeuroD-1 are involved in energy balance regulation. In situ hybridization was used to study the expression of the genes in relation to physiological status and genetic background within hypothalamic nuclei that are involved in energy balance regulation. These studies show reduced expression of Nhlh-2 mRNA in the arcuate (ARC) nucleus and NeuroD-1 mRNA in the paraventricular (PVN) nucleus in obese ob/ob and 24 h food-deprived mice relative to respective controls, suggesting regulation by leptin. Interestingly, Nhlh-2 mRNA expression is reduced in obese db/db mice, whereas NeuroD-1 remains unchanged, suggesting different mechanisms of regulation by leptin of these two genes. To study the role of leptin in the regulation of these genes, leptin was injected intraperitoneally in obese ob/ob mice and mRNA expression evaluated after 1 h or 4 h, or after twice-daily injection for 7 days. None of these regimes restored Nhlh-2 or NeuroD-1 to wild-type mRNA levels. These latter data suggest either that the regulation of the Nhlh-2 and NeuroD-1 genes by leptin is indirect or that the apparent leptin insensitivity of the gene expression reflects a developmental deficit that is a consequence of the phenotype of the obese ob/ob mice. The relationship between Nhlh-2 and candidate energy balance-related genes was studied by dual in situ hybridization. Nhlh-2 mRNA was coexpressed in a subpopulation (30%) of ARC neurons expressing pro-opiomelanocortin (POMC) mRNA, suggesting a potential functional relationship.

Constitutive overexpression of the basic helix-loop-helix Nex1/MATH-2 transcription factor promotes neuronal differentiation of PC12 cells and neurite regeneration.

Elucidation of the intricate transcriptional pathways leading to neural differentiation and the establishment of neuronal identity is critical to the understanding and design of therapeutic approaches. Among the important players, the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factors have been found to be pivotal regulators of neurogenesis. In this study, we investigate the role of the bHLH differentiation factor Nex1/MATH-2 in conjunction with the nerve growth factor (NGF) signaling pathway using the rat phenochromocytoma PC12 cell line. We report that the expression of Nex1 protein is induced after 5 hr of NGF treatment and reaches maximal levels at 24 hr, when very few PC12 cells have begun extending neurites and ceased cell division. Furthermore, our study demonstrates that Nex1 has the ability to trigger neuronal differentiation of PC12 cells in the absence of neurotrophic factor. We show that Nex1 plays an important role in neurite outgrowth and has the capacity to regenerate neurite outgrowth in the absence of NGF. These results are corroborated by the fact that Nex1 targets a repertoire of distinct types of genes associated with neuronal differentiation, such as GAP-43, betaIII-tubulin, and NeuroD. In addition, our findings show that Nex1 up-regulates the expression of the mitotic inhibitor p21(WAF1), thus linking neuronal differentiation to cell cycle withdrawal. Finally, our studies show that overexpression of a Nex1 mutant has the ability to block the execution of NGF-induced differentiation program, suggesting that Nex1 may be an important effector of the NGF signaling pathway.

Bone morphogenetic protein 2 (BMP-2) induces sequential changes of Id gene expression in the breast cancer cell line MCF-7.

Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs) are involved in the development of various organs including the mammary gland. They are well-regulated and act in a time-, concentration- and cell-type-specific manner. We found that BMP-2 is expressed in primary breast tumor tissue samples and in breast cancer cell lines. Hybridization of labeled cDNA, obtained from the breast cancer cell line MCF-7, against the Atlas human cDNA expression array revealed differential gene expression depending on BMP-2 treatment. The most prominent changes were observed for the helix-loop-helix proteins Id-1, Id-2 and Id-3. Id-1 expression had increased severalfold after 4 h and was even higher after 24 h. Id-2 and Id-3 were more strongly induced after 4 h and showed no further significant change after 24 h. Analysis of cell-cycle distribution revealed a marked increase of the sub-G1 phase after 48 h in serum-deprived cells. In the presence of BMP-2 no change was observed over 48 h indicating that BMP-2 does not induce apoptosis. In addition, expression of caspase-3 was reduced in BMP-2-treated cells after 24 h. In summary, our results clearly indicate that BMP-2 is a susceptibility factor keeping the cells ready for the integration of various other signals for cell progression.

The DNA methyltransferase inhibitor 5-azacytidine specifically alters the expression of helix-loop-helix proteins Id1, Id2 and Id3 during neuronal differentiation.

In mammals, cytosine methylation is important for the regulation of gene expression and chromatin structure. Recently, we have found evidence indicating that the maintained DNA methyltransferase activity is critical for neuronal cell differentiation. In the present study, we have investigated the effect of the DNA methyltransferase inhibitor 5-azacytidine on gene regulation during nerve growth factor (NGF)-induced neuronal differentiation of PC12 cells. Expression of the helix-loop-helix proteins Id1, Id2 and Id3 was specifically reduced by NGF and this effect was blocked in 5-azacytidine-treated cells, concomitant with the inhibition of NGF-induced neuronal differentiation. Nuclear run-on and Id2 promoter analyses further demonstrated that the decreased transcription of Id proteins is at least in part dependent on the DNA methyltransferase activity. These findings indicate that Id proteins are downstream targets of the NGF transduction pathway. Moreover, these results suggest that therapeutic strategies using 5-azacytidine against certain types of tumors should be reconsidered because of the possible deleterious effects on neuronal cell function.

E2F1 inhibition of transcription activation by myogenic basic helix-loop-helix regulators.

Cellular transcription factor E2F1 is thought to regulate the expression of genes important for cell cycle progression and cell proliferation. Deregulated E2F1 expression induces S-phase entry in quiescent cells and inhibits myogenic differentiation. We show here that E2F1 inhibits the activation of gene transcription by myogenic basic helix-loop-helix proteins myoD and myogenin. Transfection assay using different deletion constructs indicates that both the DNA binding and the transactivation domains of E2F1 are required for its inhibition of myoD transcription activation. However, the retinoblastoma protein (RB) binding domain is not required. Furthermore, co-transfection with the RB, which inhibits the transcription activity of E2F1, can also repress E2F1 inhibition of myoD transactivation. These results suggest an essential role of E2F1-mediated transcription in its inhibition of myogenesis.