Mammalian NUMB is an evolutionarily conserved signaling adapter protein that specifies cell fate.

BACKGROUND: Drosophila numb was originally described as a mutation affecting binary divisions in the sensory organ precursor (SOP) lineage. The numb gene was subsequently shown to encode an asymmetrically localized protein which is required for binary cell-fate decisions during peripheral nervous system development. Part of the Drosophila NUMB protein exhibits homology to the SHC phosphotyrosine-binding (PTB) domain, suggesting a potential link to tyrosine-kinase signal transduction. RESULTS: A widely expressed mammalian homologue of Drosophila numb (dnumb) has been cloned from rat and is referred to here as mammalian Numb (mNumb). The mNUMB protein has a similar overall structure to dNUMB and 67 sequence similarity. Misexpression of mNumb in Drosophila during sensory nervous system precursor cell division causes identical cell fate transformations to those produced by ectopic dNUMB expression. In vitro, the mNUMB PTB domain binds phosphotyrosine-containing proteins, and SH3 domains of SRC-family tyrosine kinases bind to mNUMB presumably through interactions with proline-rich regions in the carboxyl terminus. Overexpression of full-length mNUMB in the multipotential neural crest stem cell line MONC-1 dramatically biases its differentiation towards neurons, whereas overexpression of the mNUMB PTB domain biases its differentiation away from neuronal fates. CONCLUSIONS: Our results demonstrate that mNUMB is an evolutionarily conserved functional homologue of dNUMB, and establish a link to tyrosine-kinase-mediated signal transduction pathways. Furthermore, our results suggest that mNUMB and dNUMB are new members of a family of signaling adapter molecules that mediate conserved cell-fate decisions during development.

The core promoter region of the P-glycoprotein gene is sufficient to confer differential responsiveness to wild-type and mutant p53.

The overexpression of P-glycoprotein is thought to be responsible for resistance to chemotherapy in some non-responsive cancers. The mechanism by which P-glycoprotein is overexpressed in human tumors is poorly understood. However, several lines of evidence suggest that the major regulatory mechanism of P-glycoprotein overexpression in human tumors is at the transcriptional level. During tumor progression one of the most commonly observed alterations is mutation of the p53 tumor-suppressor gene. It has been shown that the p53 protein plays a role in transcriptional regulation. To gain insight into the effect p53 protein may have on P-glycoprotein promoter activity, we transiently co-transfected plasmids containing the hamster pgp1 or human mdr1 promoter linked to the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene with plasmids encoding either wild-type or mutant p53 protein into Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells. In this report, we show that wild-type p53 protein represses P-glycoprotein promoter activity, while mutant forms of p53 protein enhance P-glycoprotein promoter activity. Furthermore, we present data which indicate that the transcriptional regulatory effects of p53 are mediated through interactions with pgp1/mdr1 core promoter sequences. These findings have implications for our understanding of the molecular mechanism(s) by which p53 protein functions as a transcriptional regulator of gene expression. In addition, our results suggest a mechanism by which P-glycoprotein may be overexpressed in human cancers that also express mutant forms of p53 protein.

Characterization of linker insertion and point mutations in the NS-1 gene of minute virus of mice: effects on DNA replication and transcriptional activation functions of NS-1.

The NS-1 gene of minute virus of mice encodes a multifunctional protein required for replication of the viral genome and for transcriptional regulation of the two MVM promoters. To study the localization of activities required for DNA replication and transactivation of the capsid gene promoter, insertion and point mutations were introduced into the NS-1 gene. The mutant NS-1 genes were expressed in COS-7 cells by using an SV 40 promoter driven NS-1 expression vector. The ability of the mutant proteins to complement a replication defective NS-1 mutant of the infectious MVM plasmid pMM984 and to activate transcription from the capsid gene promoter in chloramphenicol acetyl transferase expression assays was determined. Two point mutations Ser-249 to Ala and Lys-250 to Gln and a one amino acid insertion between Asp-606 and Leu-607 had no effect on viral DNA replication and transactivation activities. Six independent insertions of between 2 and 12 amino acids inhibited the DNA replication activity of NS-1 between 20- and at least 100-fold. There was no apparent correlation between the extent of inhibition of parvoviral DNA replication and the location of the mutations. The transcriptional activation function of NS-1 was inhibited between 1.5- and at least 20-fold and was therefore overall relatively less sensitive to mutagenesis than was its DNA replication function. An exception to this was a 5 amino acid insertion between Tyr-543 and Gln-544 that abolished transactivation as well as the ability of NS-1 to complement viral DNA replication.

Two spatially distinct genetic elements constitute a bipartite DNA replication origin in the minute virus of mice genome.

Mutations were introduced into plasmid pMM984, a full-length infectious clone of the fibrotropic strain of minute virus of mice, to identify cis-acting genetic elements required for the excision and replication of the viral genome. The replicative capacity of these mutants was measured directly, using an in vivo transient DNA replication assay following transfection of plasmids into murine A9 cells and primate COS-7 cells. Experiments with subgenomic constructs indicated that both viral termini must be present on the same DNA molecule for replication to occur and that the viral nonstructural protein NS-1 must be provided in trans. The necessary sequences were located within 1,084 and 807 nucleotides of the 3' and 5' ends of the minute virus of mice genome, respectively. The inhibitory effect of deletions within the 206-bp 5'-terminal palindrome demonstrated that these sequences comprise a cis-acting genetic element that is absolutely essential for the excision and replication of viral DNA. The results further indicated a requirement for a stem-plus-arms T structure as well as for the formation of a simple hairpin. In addition, the removal of one copy of a tandemly arranged 65-bp repeat found 94 nucleotides inboard of the 5'-terminal palindrome inhibited viral DNA replication in cis by 10- and just greater than 100-fold in A9 and COS-7 cells, respectively. The latter results define a novel genetic element within the 65-bp repeated sequence, distinct from the terminal palindrome, that is capable of regulating minute virus of mice DNA replication in a species-specific manner.