ABSTRACT
The expression of the tryptophan hydroxylase (TPH) gene, encoding the rate-limiting enzyme of serotonin biosynthesis, is tightly regulated both at the transcriptional and at the post-transcriptional levels. In the pineal gland, transcription of the gene is activated in response to an intracellular circadian increase of the cAMP concentration. We have previously shown that transcription of a 2.1-kb fragment of the human TPH promoter is induced by cAMP, although it lacks the canonical cAMP responsive element, CRE. The minimal promoter (-73/+29) has only weak transcriptional activity but is responsive to cAMP. It contains an inverted CCAAT box, which was demonstrated to be involved in this response. Here, we have extended our investigation to the functional features of the inverted CCAAT box in the -252/+29 TPH promoter, which has a higher basal activity. We show that an additional cis -acting sequence, the adjacent GC-rich region, cooperates with the inverted CCAAT box for the full activation of basal transcription, and that both elements are essential for the full cAMP response. We also show that in pinealocytes, NF-Y and Sp1 transactivators bind the inverted CCAAT box and GC-rich-region, respectively. These factors participate in a novel pathway for the cAMP-mediated response of the TPH promoter, which is independent of the canonical CRE-mediated response.
Subject(s)
CCAAT-Binding Factor/metabolism , Cyclic AMP/pharmacology , Pineal Gland/metabolism , Sp1 Transcription Factor/metabolism , Transcriptional Activation/physiology , Tryptophan Hydroxylase/genetics , Animals , Base Sequence , Binding Sites/physiology , Cell Nucleus/chemistry , Cell Nucleus/metabolism , Cells, Cultured , DNA-Binding Proteins/metabolism , Enhancer Elements, Genetic , GC Rich Sequence , Macromolecular Substances , Molecular Sequence Data , Nuclear Proteins/metabolism , Pineal Gland/cytology , Pineal Gland/drug effects , Promoter Regions, Genetic/physiology , Rats , Rats, Wistar , Transcription Factor AP-2 , Transcription Factors/metabolism , Transcriptional Activation/drug effectsABSTRACT
The yihZ gene of Escherichia coli is shown to produce a deacylase activity capable of recycling misaminoacylated D-Tyr-tRNATyr. The reaction is specific and, under optimal in vitro conditions, proceeds at a rate of 6 s-1 with a Km value for the substrate equal to 1 microM. Cell growth is sensitive to interruption of the yihZ gene if D-tyrosine is added to minimal culture medium. Toxicity of exogenous D-tyrosine is exacerbated if, in addition to the disruption of yihZ, the gene of D-amino acid dehydrogenase (dadA) is also inactivated. Orthologs of the yihZ gene occur in many, but not all, bacteria. In support of the idea of a general role of the D-Tyr-tRNATyr deacylase function in the detoxification of cells, similar genes can be recognized in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Caenorhabditis elegans, Arabidopsis thaliana, mouse, and man.
