Cell-specific and developmental regulation of rabbit surfactant protein B promoter in transgenic mice.

Surfactant protein B (SP-B) is expressed tissue specifically in the lung and is developmentally regulated. To identify genomic regions that control SP-B expression, we analyzed SP-B promoter activity in transgenic mice containing rabbit SP-B 5'-flanking DNA fragments linked to the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene. Results showed that whereas the -2,176/+39-bp fragment failed to express CAT, shorter fragments of -730/+39 and -236/+39 bp expressed CAT tissue specifically in the lung. Further deletion of 5'-flanking DNA to -136 bp resulted in no expression of CAT. Immunostaining demonstrated that both -730/+39- and -236/+39-bp regions expressed CAT specifically in alveolar type II and Clara cells. The -236/+39-bp region expressed CAT at a significantly lower level than the -730/+39-bp region. CAT expression in mice containing the -730/+39-bp region was detected in embryonic day 14 lung and attained maximum levels in day 18 lung, indicating that the developmental expression of CAT was similar to that of SP-B. These data show that the DNA elements necessary for cell type-specific expression are located within -236/+39 bp of the SP-B gene. Additionally, these data suggest that the -2,176/-730- and -730/-236-bp regions contain the DNA elements that repress and enhance SP-B gene transcription, respectively.

Effect of coat on rate of temperature increase in muscle during ultrasound treatment of dogs.

OBJECTIVE: To determine effect of coat during ultrasound treatment and to establish a protocol to achieve adequate thermal effects. ANIMALS: 9 healthy adult dogs. PROCEDURE: A standardized area was treated on the semitendinosus muscle of sedated dogs. Needle thermistors were inserted in the biceps femoris muscle to depths of 5 and 10 cm and in the ultrasound gel in the treatment area. Each dog was given 4 randomized 10-minute treatments (intensities of 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 W/cm2). Temperatures were measured at 30-second intervals during treatment and at 1- to 2-minute intervals after treatment. RESULTS: Baseline temperatures (mean+/-SD) were 30.6+/-1.8 C for coat, 38.2+/-1.2 C at a depth of 5 cm, and 39.0+/-0.7 C at a depth of 10 cm. At the 5-cm depth, an increase of > 1.6 C was obtained only with the maximum intensity when coat was clipped. Treatment with maximum intensity through short and long coats yielded mean increases at a depth of 5 cm of 0.7 and 0.4 C, respectively. Temperature at the 10-cm depth increased < 0.6 C for all treatments. Temperatures within the coat increased approximately 8.3 C and 22.2 C for short and long coats, respectively, with intensities of 1.5 and 2.0 W/cm2. CONCLUSIONS: Ultrasound treatment applied through an intact coat considerably warmed the coat with loss of thermal effects in underlying tissues. Inappropriate heating was apparently affected by selection of intensity, duration, and size of treatment area. CLINICAL RELEVANCE: Coat can impede successful use of ultrasound treatment of dogs.

Heat shock factor gains access to the yeast HSC82 promoter independently of other sequence-specific factors and antagonizes nucleosomal repression of basal and induced transcription.

Transcription in eukaryotic cells occurs in the context of chromatin. Binding of sequence-specific regulatory factors must contend with the presence of nucleosomes for establishment of a committed preinitiation complex. Here we demonstrate that the high-affinity binding site for heat shock transcription factor (HSF) is occupied independently of other cis-regulatory elements and is critically required for preventing nucleosomal assembly over the yeast HSC82 core promoter under both noninducing (basal) and inducing conditions. Chromosomal mutation of this sequence, termed HSE1, erases the HSF footprint and abolishes both transcription and in vivo occupancy of the TATA box. Moreover, it dramatically reduces promoter chromatin accessibility to DNase I and TaqI, as the nuclease-hypersensitive region is replaced by a localized nucleosome. By comparison, in situ mutagenesis of two other promoter elements engaged in stable protein-DNA interactions in vivo, the GRF2/REB1 site and the TATA box, despite reducing transcription three- to fivefold, does not compromise the nucleosome-free state of the promoter. The GRF2-binding factor appears to facilitate the binding of proteins to both HSE1 and TATA, as these sequences, while still occupied, are less protected from in vivo dimethyl sulfate methylation in a deltaGRF2 strain. Finally, deletion of a consensus upstream repressor sequence (URS1), positioned immediately upstream of the GRF2-HSE1 region and only weakly occupied in chromatin, has no expression phenotype, even under meiotic conditions. However, deletion of URS1, like mutation of GRF2, shifts the translational setting of an upstream nucleosomal array flanking the promoter region. Taken together, our results argue that HSF, independent of and dominant among sequence-specific factors binding to the HSC82 upstream region, antagonizes nucleosomal repression and creates an accessible chromatin structure conducive to preinitiation complex assembly and transcriptional activation.

Binding of the wheat basic leucine zipper protein EmBP-1 to nucleosomal binding sites is modulated by nucleosome positioning.

To investigate interactions of the basic leucine zipper transcription factor EmBP-1 with its recognition sites in nucleosomal DNA, we reconstituted an abscisic acid response element and a high-affinity binding site for EmBP-1 into human and wheat nucleosome cores in vitro. DNA binding studies demonstrated that nucleosomal elements can be bound by EmBP-1 at reduced affinities relative to naked DNA. EmBP-1 affinity was lowest when the recognition sites were positioned near the center of the nucleosome. Binding was achieved with a truncated DNA binding domain; however, binding of full-length EmBP-1 caused additional strong DNase I hypersensitivity flanking the binding sites. Similar results were observed with nucleosomes reconstituted with either human or wheat histones, demonstrating a conserved mechanism of transcription factor-nucleosome interactions. We conclude that positioning of recognition sequences on a nucleosome may play an important role in regulating interactions of EmBP-1 with its target sites in plant cells.

Multiple protein-DNA interactions over the yeast HSC82 heat shock gene promoter.

We have utilized DNase I and micrococcal nuclease (MNase) to map the chromatin structure of the HSC82 heat shock gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The gene is expressed at a high basal level which is enhanced 2-3-fold by thermal stress. A single, heat-shock invariant DNase I hypersensitive domain is found within the HSC82 chromosomal locus; it maps to the gene's 5' end and spans 250 bp of promoter sequence. DNase I genomic footprinting reveals that within this hypersensitive region are four constitutive protein-DNA interactions. These map to the transcription initiation site, the TATA box, the promoter-distal heat shock element (HSE1) and a consensus GRF2 (REB1/Factor Y) sequence. However, two other potential regulatory sites, the promoter-proximal heat shock element (HSE0) and a consensus upstream repressor sequence (URS1), are not detectably occupied under either transcriptional state. In contrast to its sensitivity to DNAase I, the nucleosome-free promoter region is relatively protected from MNase; the enzyme excises a stable nucleoprotein fragment of approximately 210 bp. As detected by MNase, there are at least two sequence-positioned nucleosomes arrayed 5' of the promoter; regularly spaced nucleosomes exhibiting an average repeat length of 160-170 bp span several kilobases of both upstream and downstream regions. Similarly, the body of the gene, which exhibits heightened sensitivity to DNase I, displays a nucleosomal organization under both basal and induced states, but these nucleosomes are not detectably positioned with respect to the underlying DNA sequence and may be irregularly spaced and/or structurally altered. We present a model of the chromatin structure of HSC82 and compare it to one previously derived for the closely related, but differentially regulated, HSP82 heat shock gene.

An AU-rich element in the 3' untranslated region of the spinach chloroplast petD gene participates in sequence-specific RNA-protein complex formation.

In chloroplasts, the 3' untranslated regions of most mRNAs contain a stem-loop-forming inverted repeat (IR) sequence that is required for mRNA stability and correct 3'-end formation. The IR regions of several mRNAs are also known to bind chloroplast proteins, as judged from in vitro gel mobility shift and UV cross-linking assays, and these RNA-protein interactions may be involved in the regulation of chloroplast mRNA processing and/or stability. Here we describe in detail the RNA and protein components that are involved in 3' IR-containing RNA (3' IR-RNA)-protein complex formation for the spinach chloroplast petD gene, which encodes subunit IV of the cytochrome b6/f complex. We show that the complex contains 55-, 41-, and 29-kDa RNA-binding proteins (ribonucleoproteins [RNPs]). These proteins together protect a 90-nucleotide segment of RNA from RNase T1 digestion; this RNA contains the IR and downstream flanking sequences. Competition experiments using 3' IR-RNAs from the psbA or rbcL gene demonstrate that the RNPs have a strong specificity for the petD sequence. Site-directed mutagenesis was carried out to define the RNA sequence elements required for complex formation. These studies identified an 8-nucleotide AU-rich sequence downstream of the IR; mutations within this sequence had moderate to severe effects on RNA-protein complex formation. Although other similar sequences are present in the petD 3' untranslated region, only a single copy, which we have termed box II, appears to be essential for in vitro protein binding. In addition, the IR itself is necessary for optimal complex formation. These two sequence elements together with an RNP complex may direct correct 3'-end processing and/or influence the stability of petD mRNA in chloroplasts.

Binding of disparate transcriptional activators to nucleosomal DNA is inherently cooperative.

To investigate mechanisms by which multiple transcription factors access complex promoters and enhancers within cellular chromatin, we have analyzed the binding of disparate factors to nucleosome cores. We used a purified in vitro system to analyze binding of four activator proteins, two GAL4 derivatives, USF, and NF-kappa B (KBF1), to reconstituted nucleosome cores containing different combinations of binding sites. Here we show that binding of any two or all three of these factors to nucleosomal DNA is inherently cooperative. Thus, the binuclear Zn clusters of GAL4, the helix-loop-helix/basic domains of USF, and the rel domain of NF-kappa B all participated in cooperative nucleosome binding, illustrating that this effect is not restricted to a particular DNA-binding domain. Simultaneous binding by two factors increased the affinity of individual factors for nucleosomal DNA by up to 2 orders of magnitude. Importantly, cooperative binding resulted in efficient nucleosome binding by factors (USF and NF-kappa B) which independently possess little nucleosome-binding ability. The participation of GAL4 derivatives in cooperative nucleosome binding required only DNA-binding and dimerization domains, indicating that disruption of histone-DNA contacts by factor binding was responsible for the increased affinity of additional factors. Cooperative nucleosome binding required sequence-specific binding of all transcription factors, appeared to have spatial constraints, and was independent of the orientation of the binding sites on the nucleosome. These results indicate that cooperative nucleosome binding is a general mechanism that may play a significant role in loading complex enhancer and promoter elements with multiple diverse factors in chromatin and contribute to the generation of threshold responses and transcriptional synergy by multiple activator sites in vivo.

Differential repression of transcription factor binding by histone H1 is regulated by the core histone amino termini.

In order to investigate the interrelated roles of nucleosome cores and histone H1 in transcription repression, we have employed a purified system to analyze the function of H1 in the repression of transcription factor binding to nucleosomes. H1 binding to nucleosome cores resulted in the repression of USF binding to nucleosomes. By contrast, H1 only slightly inhibited the binding of GAL4-AH, indicating that H1 differentially represses the binding of factors with different DNA-binding domains. H1-mediated repression of factor binding was dependent on the core histone amino-terminal tails. Removal of these domains alleviated H1-mediated repression and increased acetylation of these domains partly alleviated repression by H1. H1 binding assays suggest a less stable interaction of histone H1 with the core particle in the absence of the amino termini.

Extragenic suppressors of Saccharomyces cerevisiae prp4 mutations identify a negative regulator of PRP genes.

The PRP4 gene encodes a protein that is a component of the U4/U6 small nuclear ribonucleoprotein particle and is necessary for both spliceosome assembly and pre-mRNA splicing. To identify genes whose products interact with the PRP4 gene or gene product, we isolated second-site suppressors of temperature-sensitive prp4 mutations. We limited ourselves to suppressors with a distinct phenotype, cold sensitivity, to facilitate analysis of mutants. Ten independent recessive suppressors were obtained that identified four complementation groups, spp41, spp42, spp43 and spp44 (suppressor of prp4, numbers 1-4). spp41-spp44 suppress the pre-mRNA splicing defect as well as the temperature-sensitive phenotype of prp4 strains. Each of these spp mutations also suppresses prp3; spp41 and spp42 suppress prp11 as well. Neither spp41 nor spp42 suppressors null alleles of prp3 or prp4, indicating that the suppression does not occur via a bypass mechanism. The spp41 and spp42 mutations are neither allele- nor gene-specific in their pattern of suppression and do not result in a defect in pre-mRNA splicing. Thus the SPP41 and SPP42 gene products are unlikely to participate directly in mRNA splicing or interact directly with Prp3p or Prp4p. Expression of PRP3-lacZ and PRP4-lacZ gene fusions is increased in spp41 strains, suggesting that wild-type Spp41p represses expression of PRP3 and PRP4. SPP41 was cloned and sequenced and found to be essential. spp43 is allelic to the previously identified suppressor srn1, which encodes a negative regulator of gene expression.

Nucleosome binding by the constitutive transcription factor Sp1.

The constitutive transcription factor Sp1 plays a role in the transcription of numerous viral and cellular genes including constitutive "housekeeping" genes and inducible genes. Sp1 has also been implicated in the formation of a nucleosome-free region in Simian virus 40 (SV40) minichromosomes. To investigate the potential functions of Sp1 in remodeling chromatin structures, Sp1 was analyzed for the ability to bind its recognition sites (GC boxes) in DNA fragments reconstituted into nucleosome cores. Sp1 was found to bind to the GC boxes of the SV40 early promoter when this element was reconstituted into nucleosome cores. The affinity of Sp1 for the nucleosomal SV40 early promoter DNA was reduced approximately 10-20-fold relative to naked DNA. A peptide containing only the zinc fingers of Sp1 was also capable of binding nucleosomal DNA, indicating that the glutamine-rich and serine/threonine-rich domains of Sp1 are not required for nucleosome binding. The binding of Sp1 to nucleosome cores resulted in the formation of a ternary Sp1-nucleosome complex.

A critical role for heat shock transcription factor in establishing a nucleosome-free region over the TATA-initiation site of the yeast HSP82 heat shock gene.

Heat shock genes are poised for rapid transcriptional activation in response to environmental stress. A universal structural characteristic of such genes is the presence of a nucleosome-free, DNase I hypersensitive promoter region. Here we investigate the structural and functional effects of mutating HSE1, the preferred heat shock factor (HSF) binding site upstream of the yeast HSP82 gene. In situ deletion or substitution of this sequence reduces both basal and induced transcription by at least two orders of magnitude. Moreover, such mutations lead to a dramatic transition in chromatin structure: the DNase I hypersensitive region is replaced by two stable, sequence-positioned nucleosomes. One of these is centered over the mutated heat shock element, while the other--as revealed by DNase I genomic footprinting--is precisely positioned in a rotational sense over the TATA-initiation site. Overexpression of yeast HSF strongly suppresses the null phenotype of the induced hsp82-delta HSE1 gene and re-establishes DNase I hypersensitivity over its promoter. Such suppression is mediated through sequence disposed immediately upstream of HSE1 and containing two low affinity heat shock elements. These data imply a critical role for HSF in displacing stably positioned nucleosomes in Saccharomyces cerevisiae and suggest that HSF transcriptionally activates HSP82 at least partly through its ability to alleviate nucleosome repression of the core promoter.

The yeast heat shock response is induced by conversion of cells to spheroplasts and by potent transcriptional inhibitors.

We report here that procedures commonly used to measure transcription and mRNA decay rates in Saccharomyces cerevisiae induce the heat shock response. First, conversion of cells to spheroplasts with lyticase, a prerequisite for nuclear runoff transcription, induces the expression of HSP70 and HSP90 heat shock genes. The transcript levels of the non-heat-shock gene ACT1 are slightly depressed, consistent with the general yeast stress response. Second, the DNA intercalator, 1,10-phenanthroline, widely employed as a general transcriptional inhibitor in S. cerevisiae, enhances the mRNA abundance of certain heat shock genes (HSP82, SSA1-SSA2) although not of others (HSC82, SSA4, HSP26). Third, the antibiotic thiolutin, previously demonstrated to inhibit all three yeast RNA polymerases both in vivo and in vitro, increases the RNA levels of HSP82 5- to 10-fold, those of SSA4 greater than 25-fold, and those of HSP26 greater than 50-fold under conditions in which transcription of non-heat-shock genes is blocked. By using an episomal HSP82-lacZ fusion gene, we present evidence that lyticase and thiolutin induce heat shock gene expression at the level of transcription, whereas phenanthroline acts at a subsequent step, likely through message stabilization. We conclude that, because of the exquisite sensitivity of the yeast heat shock response, procedures designed to measure the rate of gene transcription or mRNA turnover can themselves impact upon each process.

Promoter function and in situ protein/DNA interactions upstream of the yeast HSP90 heat shock genes.

We have mapped in vivo protein/DNA interactions within the upstream regulatory regions of the two yeast HSP90 genes, and have begun mutagenizing footprinted sequences in an effort to identify the cis-acting determinants of heat shock transcription. Genomic footprinting of the HSP82 promotor using chemical and enzymatic nucleases reveals that irrespective of transcriptional state, the most proximal of three heat shock elements, HSE1, is occupied along both sugar-phosphate backbones as well as within its major groove, while the TATA box is bound along both sugar-phosphate backbones. Distorted DNA structure is associated with each constitutively bound factor: protein binding to HSE1 appears to induce a local A-form-like helical conformation, whereas occupancy of the TATA box is associated with strand-specific nuclease hypersensitivity of an adjacent polypurine tract. In situ mutagenesis experiments indicate that HSE1 is absolutely required for both basal and induced expression, and that basal transcription can be preferentially abolished by point mutations within this sequence. In contrast, point mutations within the TATA element have the reverse effect, as induced transcription is more significantly affected. Similar to HSE1 point mutants, we have found that basal transcription is preferentially repressed by an HMRE silencer element when it is transplaced approximately 1 kb upstream of the HSP82 start site. Finally, a complementary footprinting analysis of the upstream region of the constitutively expressed HSC82 gene reveals the presence of three discrete protein complexes. These map to the TATA box, the promotor-distal heat shock element, C.HSE1, and a novel sequence upstream of C. HSE1, suggesting that the 10-fold higher basal transcription of HSC82 stems, at least in part, from a non-HSE-binding factor.

Control of mRNA stability in chloroplasts by 3' inverted repeats: effects of stem and loop mutations on degradation of psbA mRNA in vitro.

To investigate the role of mRNA 3' inverted repeats (IRs) in stabilizing plant chloroplast mRNAs, we have measured the processing and stability of wild-type and mutant RNAs corresponding to the 3' end of the spinach chloroplast psbA mRNA. wild-type and mutant 3' IR-RNA precursors were processed at similar rates in a homologous in vitro system, but RNAs with either a mutant loop sequence CUUCGG or a specific base substitution in the IR exhibited an enhanced accumulation of mature product. Incubation of mature products in the in vitro system demonstrated that this was due to an increased stability of the product. These mutant RNAs displayed the same order of stabilities when their decay was measured following electroporation into intact chloroplasts. We found that the in vitro system contains an endonuclease activity that cleaves the wild-type 3' IR-RNA within the loop and also in single-stranded regions, suggesting a possible role for the loop sequence in determining RNA longevity in vitro. Interestingly, the altered loop sequence CUUCGG, which enhances RNA stability in bacteria (1), prolonged the half-life of psbA 3' IR-RNA in vitro and also resulted in an altered endonuclease cleavage pattern. Such nucleases could potentially play an important role in plastid mRNA decay in vivo.

Basal-level expression of the yeast HSP82 gene requires a heat shock regulatory element.

Previous studies have shown that heat shock factor is constitutively bound to heat shock elements in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We demonstrate that mutation of the heat shock element closest to the TATA box of the yeast HSP82 promoter abolishes basal-level transcription without markedly affecting inducibility. The mutated heat shock element no longer bound putative heat shock factor, either in vitro or in vivo, but still resided within a nuclease-hypersensitive site in the chromatin. Thus, constitutive binding of heat shock factor to heat shock elements in S. cerevisiae appears to functionally direct basal-level transcription.

Planfulness and problem solving in older adults.

The applicability of problem solving concepts such as planfulness and depth of search to older adult cognitive behavior was considered. Eighteen males (sixty to eighty-nine years) and eighteen females (sixty to eighty-two years) solved isomorphic inquiry problems involving elimination of number and letter alternatives from a twenty-four item stimulus array. Half of the participants were given planning instructions designed to deepen their search through existing knowledge, while half received no instructions. Analyses of the total number of questions to solution and the percentage reduction in number of alternatives produced by each question revealed no reliable gender-related differences. Planning instructions, however, reduced the number of questions prior to solution and increased the informational value of most inquiries. The results were interpreted in terms of a metacognitive strategy deficiency in later life. Theoretical issues related to the construction and validation of information-processing models that depend on "real-world" knowledge were discussed.

Unsocialized aggressive boys: a follow-up study.

Twenty-two boys who met criteria for the diagnosis "unsocialized aggressive reaction" and had been admitted to an inpatient unit were followed up 21 months later. Two thirds were improved. Fighting and resistance to discipline were diminished while impulsiveness and similar traits persisted. Boys who were separated from an antisocial parent but lived in a home did better than others.