Co-expression of insulin and somatostatin genes in pancreatic endocrine cells selected for their high level of insulin gene transcription

1992 ◽  
Vol 101 (4) ◽  
pp. 795-799
Author(s):  
C. Saulnier-Michel ◽  
M. Fromont-Racine ◽  
R. Pictet

RW cells are pancreatic endocrine RIN cells that have been stably transfected with a chimeric gene that places the expression of the dominant selection gpt gene under the control of the insulin gene regulatory sequences. These RW cells were examined for hormone content using immunocytochemistry. This analysis shows that: first, there are cells that are negative for insulin although they were cultured under selective pressure. Second, there is a higher proportion of somatostatin-producing cells than in the parental RIN cells; these somatostatin cells form two populations: one of cells containing only somatostatin and, surprisingly, one made of cells containing both insulin and somatostatin. Thus: (1) expression of the transfected and endogenous insulin regulatory sequences is not regulated in a coordinate fashion; (2) the presence of both hormones in the same cell suggests that the regulation of the expression of insulin and somatostatin genes and the differentiation pathway of the two respective cell types may be closely related.

1997 ◽  
Vol 17 (7) ◽  
pp. 3987-3996 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Peshavaria ◽  
E Henderson ◽  
A Sharma ◽  
C V Wright ◽  
R Stein

Pancreas formation is prevented in mice carrying a null mutation in the PDX-1 homeoprotein, demonstrating a key role for this factor in development. PDX-1 can also bind to and activate transcription from cis-acting regulatory sequences in the insulin and somatostatin genes, which are expressed in pancreatic islet beta and delta cells, respectively. In this study, we compared the functional properties of PDX-1 with those of the closely related Xenopus homeoprotein XIHbox8. Analysis of chimeras between PDX-1, XIHbox8, and the DNA-binding domain of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae transcription factor GAL4 revealed that their transactivation domain was contained within the N-terminal region (amino acids 1 to 79). Detailed mutagenesis of this region indicated that transactivation is mediated by three highly conserved sequences, spanning amino acids 13 to 22 (subdomain A), 32 to 38 (subdomain B), and 60 to 73 (subdomain C). These sequences were also required by PDX-1 to synergistically activate insulin enhancer-mediated transcription with another key insulin gene activator, the E2A-encoded basic helix-loop-helix E2-5 and E47 proteins. These results indicated that N-terminal sequences conserved between the mammalian PDX-1 and Xenopus XIHbox8 proteins are important in transcriptional activation. Stable expression of the PDX-1 deltaABC mutant in the insulin- and PDX-1-expressing betaTC3 cell line resulted in a threefold reduction in the rate of endogenous insulin gene transcription. Strikingly, the level of the endogenous PDX-1 protein was reduced to very low levels in these cells. These results suggest that PDX-1 is not absolutely essential for insulin gene expression in betaTC3 cells. We discuss the possible significance of these findings for insulin gene transcription in islet beta cells.


Nature ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 598 (7879) ◽  
pp. 129-136
Author(s):  
Yang Eric Li ◽  
Sebastian Preissl ◽  
Xiaomeng Hou ◽  
Ziyang Zhang ◽  
Kai Zhang ◽  
...  

AbstractThe mammalian cerebrum performs high-level sensory perception, motor control and cognitive functions through highly specialized cortical and subcortical structures1. Recent surveys of mouse and human brains with single-cell transcriptomics2–6 and high-throughput imaging technologies7,8 have uncovered hundreds of neural cell types distributed in different brain regions, but the transcriptional regulatory programs that are responsible for the unique identity and function of each cell type remain unknown. Here we probe the accessible chromatin in more than 800,000 individual nuclei from 45 regions that span the adult mouse isocortex, olfactory bulb, hippocampus and cerebral nuclei, and use the resulting data to map the state of 491,818 candidate cis-regulatory DNA elements in 160 distinct cell types. We find high specificity of spatial distribution for not only excitatory neurons, but also most classes of inhibitory neurons and a subset of glial cell types. We characterize the gene regulatory sequences associated with the regional specificity within these cell types. We further link a considerable fraction of the cis-regulatory elements to putative target genes expressed in diverse cerebral cell types and predict transcriptional regulators that are involved in a broad spectrum of molecular and cellular pathways in different neuronal and glial cell populations. Our results provide a foundation for comprehensive analysis of gene regulatory programs of the mammalian brain and assist in the interpretation of noncoding risk variants associated with various neurological diseases and traits in humans.


1991 ◽  
Vol 276 (2) ◽  
pp. 471-479 ◽  
Author(s):  
A Watkinson ◽  
A C Jönsson ◽  
M Davison ◽  
J Young ◽  
C M Lee ◽  
...  

Chromogranin A is produced in many endocrine cell types, and is widely used as a marker in endocrine-cell pathology and secretory-cell biology. There is some evidence that it may be proteolytically processed to yield the putative pancreatic regulatory peptide, pancreastatin, and, in order to characterize the relevant pathways in gastrointestinal and pancreatic endocrine cells, we have used, in radioimmunoassay, site-directed antibodies to pancreastatin itself (L331) and to a sequence of chromogranin A immediately C-terminal to pancreastatin (L300). The latter antibody revealed three major forms of immunoreactivity of 8 kDa and five peptides of approx. 3 kDa in bovine pancreas and gut extracts. The 8 kDa peptides were characterized as chromogranin A-(248-313)-peptides, i.e. C-terminally extended forms of pancreastatin; two of the 8 kDa variants differed in two positions, confirming a polymorphism predicted from cDNA sequencing. One of the 3 kDa peptides was characterized as chromogranin A-(297-313)-peptide, i.e. the C-terminal heptadecapeptide of the 8 kDa peptide that would be liberated after cleavage to yield pancreastatin. On the basis of chromatographic studies, immunohistochemistry and the stoichiometry of different immunoreactive peptides, three different pathways of chromogranin A processing were identified: in adrenal chromaffin cells chromogranin A existed mainly as the unmodified intact protein, in pancreatic islet and gastric antral endocrine cells pancreastatin and the 3 kDa peptides were major products, but in small intestine and gastric corpus endocrine cells there was little nor no pancreastatin and the 8 kDa cleavage product predominated. There are therefore important differences in the distribution of chromogranin A-derived peptides between quite closely related populations of endocrine cells that are attributable not only to variable post-translational cleavage but also to the expression of different primary sequences. It seems possible that in different cell types chromogranin A-derived peptides might subserve a variety of different functions.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kai Zhang ◽  
James D. Hocker ◽  
Michael Miller ◽  
Xiaomeng Hou ◽  
Joshua Chiou ◽  
...  

SUMMARYCurrent catalogs of regulatory sequences in the human genome are still incomplete and lack cell type resolution. To profile the activity of human gene regulatory elements in diverse cell types and tissues in the human body, we applied single cell chromatin accessibility assays to 25 distinct human tissue types from multiple donors. The resulting chromatin maps comprising ∼500,000 nuclei revealed the status of open chromatin for over 750,000 candidate cis-regulatory elements (cCREs) in 54 distinct cell types. We further delineated cell type-specific and tissue-context dependent gene regulatory programs, and developmental stage specificity by comparing with a recent human fetal chromatin accessibility atlas. We finally used these chromatin maps to interpret the noncoding variants associated with complex human traits and diseases. This rich resource provides a foundation for the analysis of gene regulatory programs in human cell types across tissues and organ systems.


eLife ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cyrille Ramond ◽  
Nicolas Glaser ◽  
Claire Berthault ◽  
Jacqueline Ameri ◽  
Jeannette Schlichting Kirkegaard ◽  
...  

Information remains scarce on human development compared to animal models. Here, we reconstructed human fetal pancreatic differentiation using cell surface markers. We demonstrate that at 7weeks of development, the glycoprotein 2 (GP2) marks a multipotent cell population that will differentiate into the acinar, ductal or endocrine lineages. Development towards the acinar lineage is paralleled by an increase in GP2 expression. Conversely, a subset of the GP2+ population undergoes endocrine differentiation by down-regulating GP2 and CD142 and turning on NEUROG3, a marker of endocrine differentiation. Endocrine maturation progresses by up-regulating SUSD2 and lowering ECAD levels. Finally, in vitro differentiation of pancreatic endocrine cells derived from human pluripotent stem cells mimics key in vivo events. Our work paves the way to extend our understanding of the origin of mature human pancreatic cell types and how such lineage decisions are regulated.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amitava Basu ◽  
Vijay K. Tiwari

AbstractEpigenetic mechanisms are known to define cell-type identity and function. Hence, reprogramming of one cell type into another essentially requires a rewiring of the underlying epigenome. Cellular reprogramming can convert somatic cells to induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) that can be directed to differentiate to specific cell types. Trans-differentiation or direct reprogramming, on the other hand, involves the direct conversion of one cell type into another. In this review, we highlight how gene regulatory mechanisms identified to be critical for developmental processes were successfully used for cellular reprogramming of various cell types. We also discuss how the therapeutic use of the reprogrammed cells is beginning to revolutionize the field of regenerative medicine particularly in the repair and regeneration of damaged tissue and organs arising from pathological conditions or accidents. Lastly, we highlight some key challenges hindering the application of cellular reprogramming for therapeutic purposes.


2016 ◽  
Vol 113 (34) ◽  
pp. E4995-E5004 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wen Lu ◽  
Michael Winding ◽  
Margot Lakonishok ◽  
Jill Wildonger ◽  
Vladimir I. Gelfand

Cytoplasmic streaming in Drosophila oocytes is a microtubule-based bulk cytoplasmic movement. Streaming efficiently circulates and localizes mRNAs and proteins deposited by the nurse cells across the oocyte. This movement is driven by kinesin-1, a major microtubule motor. Recently, we have shown that kinesin-1 heavy chain (KHC) can transport one microtubule on another microtubule, thus driving microtubule–microtubule sliding in multiple cell types. To study the role of microtubule sliding in oocyte cytoplasmic streaming, we used a Khc mutant that is deficient in microtubule sliding but able to transport a majority of cargoes. We demonstrated that streaming is reduced by genomic replacement of wild-type Khc with this sliding-deficient mutant. Streaming can be fully rescued by wild-type KHC and partially rescued by a chimeric motor that cannot move organelles but is active in microtubule sliding. Consistent with these data, we identified two populations of microtubules in fast-streaming oocytes: a network of stable microtubules anchored to the actin cortex and free cytoplasmic microtubules that moved in the ooplasm. We further demonstrated that the reduced streaming in sliding-deficient oocytes resulted in posterior determination defects. Together, we propose that kinesin-1 slides free cytoplasmic microtubules against cortically immobilized microtubules, generating forces that contribute to cytoplasmic streaming and are essential for the refinement of posterior determinants.


1993 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 9-17 ◽  
Author(s):  
J P Concordet ◽  
M Salminen ◽  
J Demignon ◽  
C Moch ◽  
P Maire ◽  
...  

The human aldolase A gene is transcribed from three different promoters, pN, pM, and pH, all of which are clustered within a small 1.6-kbp DNA domain. pM, which is highly specific to adult skeletal muscle, lies in between pN and pH, which are ubiquitous but particularly active in heart and skeletal muscle. A ubiquitous enhancer, located just upstream of pH start sites, is necessary for the activity of both pH and pN in transient transfection assays. Using transgenic mice, we studied the sequence controlling the muscle-specific promoter pM and the relations between the three promoters and the ubiquitous enhancer. A 4.3-kbp fragment containing the three promoters and the ubiquitous enhancer showed an expression pattern consistent with that known in humans. In addition, while pH was active in both fast and slow skeletal muscles, pM was active only in fast muscle. pM activity was unaltered by the deletion of a 1.8-kbp region containing the ubiquitous enhancer and the pH promoter, whereas pN remained active only in fast skeletal muscle. These findings suggest that in fast skeletal muscle, a tissue-specific enhancer was acting on both pN and pM, whereas in other tissues, the ubiquitous enhancer was necessary for pN activity. Finally, a 2.6-kbp region containing the ubiquitous enhancer and only the pH promoter was sufficient to bring about high-level expression of pH in cardiac and skeletal muscle. Thus, while pH and pM function independently of each other, pN, remarkably, shares regulatory elements with each of them, depending on the tissue. Importantly, expression of the transgenes was independent of the integration site, as originally described for transgenes containing the beta-globin locus control region.


1977 ◽  
Vol 145 (4) ◽  
pp. 983-998 ◽  
Author(s):  
S J Klebanoff

Estradiol binds covalently to normal leukocytes during phagocytosis. The binding involves three cell types, neutrophils, eosinophils, and monocytes and at least two reaction mechanisms, one involving the peroxidase of neutrophils and monocytes (myeloperoxidase [MPO]) and possibly the eosinophil peroxidase, and the second involving catalase. Binding is markedly reduced when leukocytes from patients with chronic granulomatous disease (CGD), severe leukocytic glucose 6-phosphate dehydrogenase deficiency, and familial lipochrome histiocytosis are employed and two populations of neutrophils, one which binds estradiol and one which does not, can be demonstrated in the blood of a CGD carrier. Leukocytes from patients with hereditary MPO deficiency also bind estradiol poorly although the defect is not as severe as in CGD. These findings are discussed in relation to the inactivation of estrogens during infection and the possible role of estrogens in neutrophil function.


1989 ◽  
Vol 262 (1) ◽  
pp. 83-89 ◽  
Author(s):  
K J Föhr ◽  
J Scott ◽  
G Ahnert-Hilger ◽  
M Gratzl

The inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3)-sensitive Ca2+ compartment of endocrine cells was studied with alpha-toxin- and digitonin-permeabilized rat insulinoma (RINA2) and rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells. The Ca2+ uptake was ATP-dependent, and submicromolar concentrations of IP3 specifically released the stored Ca2+. Half-maximal Ca2+ release was observed with 0.25-0.5 mumol of IP3/l, and the amount of Ca2+ released due to IP3 could be enhanced by additional loading of the Ca2+ compartment. Consecutive additions of the same concentration of IP3 for 1-2 h always released the same amount of Ca2+ without desensitization, providing an ideal basis to further characterize the IP3-induced Ca2+ release. Here we describe for the first time a reversible inhibitory effect of decavanadate on the IP3-induced Ca2+ release. Among the vanadium species tested (decavanadate, oligovanadate and monovanadate), only decavanadate was inhibitory, with a half-maximal effect at 5 mumol/l in both cell types. The effect of decavanadate could be overcome by increasing the amount of sequestered Ca2+ or added IP3. Decavanadate did not affect the ATP-driven Ca2+ uptake but oligovanadate was inhibitory on Ca2+ uptake. p-Hydroxymercuribenzoate (pHMB) at concentrations between 10 and 30 mumol/l also inhibited the Ca2+ release due to IP3. Thiol compounds such as dithiothreitol (DTT; 1 mmol/l) added before pHMB removed all its inhibitory effect on the IP3-induced Ca2+ release, whereas the inhibition caused by decavanadate was unaffected by DTT. Thus, the decavanadate-dependent inhibition functions by a distinctly different mechanism than pHMB and could serve as a specific tool to analyse various aspects of the IP3-induced Ca2+ release within endocrine cells.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document