RESUMO
To investigate the stringency of the Escherichia coli selenocysteine insertion sequence (SECIS) requirements, libraries of SECIS variants were screened via a novel method in which suppression of the selenocysteine (Sec) opal codon was coupled to bacteriophage plaque formation. The SECIS variant libraries were designed with a mostly paired lower stem, so that randomization could be focused on the upper stem and loop regions. We identified 19 functional non-native SECIS sequences that violated the expected pairing requirements for the SECIS upper stem. All of the SECIS variants were shown to permit Sec insertion in phage (by chemical modification of the Sec residue) and fused to lacZalpha (by beta-galactosidase assay). The diminished pairing of the upper stem appears to be mitigated by the overall stem stability; a given upper stem variant has significantly higher readthrough in the context of a paired, rather than unpaired, lower stem. These results suggest an unexpected downstream sequence flexibility in prokaryotic selenoprotein expression.
Assuntos
Escherichia coli/genética , Biblioteca Gênica , Sequências Reguladoras de Ácido Nucleico/genética , Selenocisteína/genética , Bacteriófagos/genética , Sequência de Bases , Clonagem Molecular , Códon de Terminação/genética , DNA Bacteriano/genética , Escherichia coli/efeitos dos fármacos , Escherichia coli/metabolismo , Óperon Lac/genética , Mutação , Conformação de Ácido Nucleico , RNA Bacteriano/química , RNA Bacteriano/genética , Proteínas Recombinantes de Fusão/efeitos dos fármacos , Proteínas Recombinantes de Fusão/genética , Proteínas Recombinantes de Fusão/metabolismo , Selenocisteína/metabolismo , Selenito de Sódio/farmacologia , beta-Galactosidase/efeitos dos fármacos , beta-Galactosidase/genética , beta-Galactosidase/metabolismoRESUMO
Cisplatin is an effective agent for the treatment of testicular cancer. In the present study with mouse testicular teratocarcinoma cell extracts, we observed a deficiency in nucleotide excision repair (NER) of a DNA probe bearing a cisplatin 1,2-d(GpG) intrastrand cross-link. In contrast, repair of the cisplatin 1,3-d(GpTpG) intrastrand cross-link was still active in these cell extracts. A current working hypothesis is that complexes of HMG-domain proteins with the major cisplatin 1,2-intrastrand cross-links could enhance cisplatin cytotoxicity by blocking repair of these lesions on the genome. The family of HMG-domain proteins include a testis-specific protein, tsHMG, which might account for the altered NER in testicular cells. To test this possibility, a human cervical carcinoma cell line (HeLa) was constructed which ectopically expressed tsHMG under the control of an inducible promoter. Microscopic examination of tsHMG expression and cisplatin-induced apoptosis on a cellular level revealed that the nuclear protein did indeed modulate the cytotoxic consequences of cisplatin treatment. Also, tsHMG enhanced transcription inhibition by cisplatin. These results reveal that an HMG-domain protein can affect cellular responses to cisplatin and may be relevant to the clinical observation that cancer cells in specific tissues are particularly sensitive to cisplatin.
