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D F Steiner

Publications and source records attributed to D F Steiner.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

Nucleotide sequence and growth hormone-regulated expression of salmon insulin-like growth factor I mRNA.

Protein and cDNA sequence analysis have revealed that the insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I) has been highly conserved among several mammalian species. Using the combined techniques of polymerase chain reaction and molecular cloning, we have now obtained the cDNA sequence encoding preproIGF-I from a teleost species, Oncorhynchus kisutch (coho salmon). The 2020 nucleotide (nt) cloned cDNA sequence contains a 528 nt open reading frame encoding 176 amino acids in preproIGF-I and 175 nt and 1317 nt of flanking 5'- and 3'-untranslated regions, respectively. The deduced amino acid sequence of salmon IGF-I is highly conserved relative to its mammalian homologues and there are only 14 amino acid differences out of 70 between salmon and human IGF-I. Interestingly, the C-terminal E domain of salmon proIGF-I, which is presumed to be proteolytically cleaved during biosynthesis, also shows striking amino acid sequence homology with its mammalian counterpart, except for an internal 27 residue segment that is unique to salmon proIGF-I. Northern analysis revealed that salmon preproIGF-I mRNA consists predominantly of a single 3900 nt sized band although minor bands were also observed after prolonged autoradiographic exposure. The RNA analysis also revealed that the level of preproIGF-I mRNA is increased 6-fold in liver RNA isolated from salmon injected with bovine GH, as compared to untreated controls. These results demonstrate that the primary structure and regulated expression of IGF-I by GH have been conserved in teleosts.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

An islet amyloid peptide is derived from an 89-amino acid precursor by proteolytic processing.

Amyloid deposits occurring in the islets of Langerhans in patients with noninsulin-dependent diabetes mellitus and some insulinomas contain a 37-amino acid peptide that is structurally related to calcitonin gene-related peptide. We have identified three cDNA clones encoding islet amyloid polypeptide (IAPP) or diabetes-associated peptide (DAP) by oligonucleotide screening of a lambda gt10 human insulinoma cDNA library. Two of the three cDNAs contained a domain encoding IAPP/DAP but had an intron-like sequence in their 5' region. The other cDNA contained an open reading frame encoding an 89-amino acid precursor having a typical signal peptide followed by a small prohormone-like sequence containing within it the IAPP/DAP peptide bracketed at its NH2 and COOH termini by Lys-Arg and Gly-Lys-Arg, respectively. These data indicate that this amyloid peptide is generated by proteolytic processing similar to that for proinsulin and other islet prohormones and also that the peptide may be carboxyamidated. The isolation of cDNA clones having 5'-unprocessed intron-like sequences suggests that inefficient or alternative splicing of this mRNA occurred in the insulinoma.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Insulin-resistant diabetes due to a point mutation that prevents insulin proreceptor processing.

A point mutation in the human insulin receptor gene in a patient with type A insulin resistance alters the amino acid sequence within the tetrabasic processing site of the proreceptor molecule from Arg-Lys-Arg-Arg to Arg-Lys-Arg-Ser. Epstein-Barr virus-transformed lymphocytes from this patient synthesize an insulin receptor precursor that is normally glycosylated and inserted into the plasma membrane but is not cleaved to mature alpha and beta subunits. Insulin binding to these cells is severely reduced but can be increased about fivefold by gentle treatment with trypsin, accompanied by the appearance of normal alpha subunits. These results indicate that proteolysis of the proreceptor is necessary for its normal full insulin-binding sensitivity and signal-transducing activity and that a cellular protease that is more stringent in its specificity than trypsin is required to process the receptor precursor.

Adult↗

Novel organization and processing of the guinea pig pancreatic polypeptide precursor.

Studies on New World hystricomorph rodents have revealed interesting structural divergences in the peptide hormones of the islets of Langerhans, particularly with respect to insulin and glucagon. Herein we report the isolation and sequencing of a cDNA encoding the precursor of pancreatic polypeptide (PP) from a guinea pig pancreas cDNA library. The 126-residue precursor sequence is predicted to include a 26-residue NH2-terminal signal peptide followed by the 36-amino acid PP hormonal sequence and a large COOH-terminal extension. The sequence identity between guinea pig and human PP is 89% (32/36 residues), and the predicted sequence is in agreement with that reported by Eng et al. (Eng, J., Huang, C.-G., Pan, Y.-C. E., Hulmes, J. D., and Yalow, R. S. (1987) Peptides 8, 165-168). In contrast, the icosapeptide domain in the guinea pig precursor exhibits only 40% (8/20) identity with the corresponding human precursor domain, and the COOH-terminal extension differs greatly in both sequence and size. The guinea pig precursor lacks the monobasic processing site (Pro-Arg) found at the COOH terminus of the icosapeptide domain in human, ovine, canine, and feline proPP. An icosapeptide is thus not likely to be liberated as such from this precursor. Of particular interest in guinea pig proPP is the substitution of serine for arginine at the dibasic amino acid processing site on the COOH-terminal side of the PP domain. Results of radioimmunoassays of gel-filtered protein fractions from a guinea pig pancreas extract indicate that efficient proteolytic cleavage takes place at this Lys-Ser site and that mature guinea pig PP is normally carboxyamidated.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Appalachian spring: variations on ancient gastro-entero-pancreatic themes in New World mammals.

Studies of guinea pig genomic and/or cDNA clones encoding the gastro-entero-pancreatic (GEP) hormones--insulin, glucagon and pancreatic polypeptide--as well as portions of the insulin receptor, are described. Multiple clustered substitutions (localized rapid mutation acceptance) altering the biological properties of both insulin and glucagon have been revealed, but this does not appear to be the case with either pancreatic polypeptide or those regions of guinea pig insulin receptor cDNAs that have been examined thus far. These findings suggest that novel selective pressures operative in the New World environment, in which these animals evolved in isolation from Old World mammalian species, have led to altered solutions to problems related to the regulation of growth and carbohydrate metabolism.

Americas↗

Stimulation of pancreatic islet beta-cell replication by oncogenes.

Although the growth potential of the pancreatic islet beta cells is limited, glucose, cAMP, and certain polypeptide growth factors have been reported by other workers to exert modest stimulatory effects on beta-cell replication. To further assess means through which beta-cell growth can be stimulated, selected oncogene constructs linked to a rat insulin promoter were introduced by means of electroporation into free islet cells prepared from fetal rats and adult hyperglycemic obese (ob/ob) mice. The uptake and expression of the added oncogenes were sufficiently efficient to exert effects on beta-cell physiology in short-term experiments (less than or equal to 4 days). Stimulation of islet cell [3H]thymidine incorporation was observed after transfection with src alone or the combination of myc and ras. The effect observed in the fetal islet cells with src was more pronounced than any effect previously reported. Transfection with the src oncogene resulted in phosphorylation of lipocortin I and was paralleled by an increased immunofluorescence against src-like immunoreactivity in a majority of the electroporated cells. It is concluded that electroporation can induce sufficiently efficient expression of added oncogene constructs to study their effects on cells that are not readily transformable into continuously growing cell lines. Furthermore, the results suggest that beta-cell replication might be manipulated extrinsically by inserting appropriate growth-promoting genes into these cells.

Animals↗

Tissue-specific expression of transfected human insulin genes in pluripotent clonal rat insulinoma lines induced during passage in vivo.

The pluripotent rat islet tumor cell line MSL-G2 expresses primarily glucagon or cholecystokinin and not insulin in vitro but changes phenotype completely after prolonged in vivo cultivation to yield small-sized hypoglycemic tumors composed almost entirely of insulin-producing beta cells. When a genomic DNA fragment containing the coding and upstream regulatory regions of the human insulin gene was stably transfected into MSL-G2 cells no measurable amounts of insulin or insulin mRNA were detected in vitro. However, successive transplantation of two transfected clones resulted in hypoglycemic tumors that efficiently coexpressed human and rat insulin as determined by human C-peptide-specific immunoreagents. These results demonstrate that cis-acting tissue-specific insulin gene enhancer elements are conserved between rat and human insulin genes. We propose that the in vivo differentiation of MSL-G2 cells and transfected subclones into insulin-producing cells reflects processes of natural beta-cell ontogeny leading to insulin gene expression.

Adenoma, Islet Cell↗

A mutant human proinsulin is secreted from islets of Langerhans in increased amounts via an unregulated pathway.

A coding mutation in the human insulin gene (His-B10----Asp) is associated with familial hyperproinsulinemia. To model this syndrome, we have produced transgenic mice that express high levels of the mutant prohormone in their islets of Langerhans. Strain 24-6 mice, containing about 100 copies of the mutant gene, were normoglycemic but had marked increases of serum human proinsulin immunoreactive components. Biosynthetic studies on isolated islets revealed that approximately 65% of the proinsulin synthesized in these mice was the human mutant form. Unlike the normal endogenous mouse proinsulin, which was almost exclusively handled via a regulated secretory pathway, up to 15% of the human [Asp10]proinsulin was rapidly secreted after synthesis via an unregulated or constitutive pathway, and approximately 20% was degraded within the islet cells. The secreted human [Asp10]proinsulin was not processed proteolytically. However, the processing of the normal mouse and human mutant proinsulins within the islets from transgenic mice was not significantly impaired. These findings suggest that the hyperproinsulinemia of the patients is the result of the continuous secretion of unprocessed mutant prohormone from the islets via this alternative unregulated pathway.

Animals↗

Use of in vitro DNA amplification to screen family members for an insulin gene mutation.

The DNA polymerase chain reaction can be a powerful tool for amplifying selected segments of genomic DNA for investigation of point mutations that are inaccessible via classic restriction-fragment-length polymorphism analysis. We have applied this method to an analysis of the incidence of heterozygosity for the mutant insulin allele insulin Wakayama (A3 Val----Leu) in two unrelated Japanese families having the hyperinsulinemic mutant insulin syndrome. The results indicate that this method is simple, sensitive, and accurate and should be useful for screening larger (diabetic) populations to detect single-base substitutions in the insulin gene that lead to either altered (pro)insulin structure and/or insulin production.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

Expression of rat and mouse cathepsin B precursors in Escherichia coli.

Vectors for the expression of mouse preprocathepsin B and rat procathepsin B, under the control of a modified lac operon regulatory region, in plasmid pKK233-2 were constructed. In rapidly growing cells induction of preprocathepsin B was cytotoxic. Immune precipitable cathepsin B, compatible in size with that expected for the unglycosylated proenzyme, was produced in both constructs. However, pepsin digestion of extracts did not produce any cathepsin B activity, indicating either that the recombinant forms are not correctly folded or were produced at such low levels that activity could not be detected.

Animals↗

Regulation of insulin gene expression by dexamethasone, Ca2+ and a phorbol ester.

The transcription of the insulin genes in rat pancreatic islets was determined in response to dexamethasone, cholera toxin and Ca2+. Furthermore, the contents of islet insulin mRNA after culture with the phorbol ester 4 beta-phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (TPA) were assayed by dot-blot analysis. Dexamethasone and cholera toxin stimulated the rates of insulin gene transcription, whereas the withdrawal of Ca2+ and addition of TPA exerted no effects on insulin gene expression. It is concluded that islet cAMP may be one factor regulating the transcription of the insulin gene in response to nutrient secretagogues, whereas Ca2+ and activation of protein kinase C do not serve such a function.

Animals↗

Studies on the molecular organization of rat insulin secretory granules.

Secretory granule-enriched fractions prepared from isolated rat islets of Langerhans, previously labeled in culture for 18 h with [3H]leucine, have been lysed and separated into pH 5.4 soluble and insoluble fractions by zonal sucrose gradient centrifugation. A high proportion of both labeled and immunoreactive rat insulins I and II were recovered in the insoluble granule core fraction in the expected ratio of approximately 60/40, respectively. Essentially equivalent amounts of the rat C-peptides on a molar basis were recovered in the granule supernatant fractions. The proportion of labeled proinsulin in the granule core fraction was less than 2% relative to insulin, while the soluble fraction contained about 8%, which probably arose mainly from disrupted proinsulin-rich noncrystalline prosecretory vesicles. Electron microscopic examination of the granule core fraction revealed large numbers of well preserved crystalline cores exhibiting typical dimensions and regular internal spacings of normal mature rat beta-granule inclusions. These results provide direct biochemical evidence that the beta-granules are nonuniform in composition with the insulin contained mainly in a crystalline state in the electron-dense central inclusions while the C-peptide is dissolved in the fluid bathing the crystalline hormone. The significance of this structural organization of the beta-granule is discussed.

Animals↗

Tissue-specific binding of a nuclear factor to the insulin gene promoter.

Using a DNA-binding gel mobility shift assay, a protein-DNA complex was detected using the rat II insulin promoter and a nuclear extract from rat insulinoma cells. This complex was detected using extracts from other insulin-producing cell lines but was not found using nuclear extracts from non-insulin-producing pancreatic cell lines or other cell types. Binding of the tissue-specific protein to the labelled promoter fragment was effectively competed by both rat and human insulin genes but not by the SV40 TATA box. This protein DNA interaction may be involved in tissue-specific regulation of insulin gene expression.

Animals↗

Mechanisms of leucine- and theophylline-stimulated insulin biosynthesis in isolated rat pancreatic islets.

To extend previous observations on the mechanisms of translational regulation of insulin biosynthesis [Welsh, Scherberg, Gilmore & Steiner (1986) Biochem. J. 235, 459-467], we have now compared the intracellular distributions of insulin mRNA after stimulation of insulin biosynthesis by glucose, leucine or theophylline. In comparison with low glucose (3.3 mM) only, the presence of 10 mM-leucine + 3.3 mM-glucose resulted in the transfer of insulin mRNA from the pool of the uninitiated mRNA to the free polysome/monosome fraction and an increase in the amount of insulin mRNA associated with the microsomal fraction. Islets exposed to 5 mM-theophylline + 3.3 mM-glucose also showed a decreased content of uninitiated insulin mRNA in the cytosol, but these islets showed no increase in insulin mRNA in the microsomal fraction. These results suggest that leucine, a nutrient stimulant of insulin biosynthesis, acts essentially by the same mechanisms as those of glucose, whereas theophylline acts only to stimulate initiation rates.

Animals↗

High-level expression of human insulin receptor cDNA in mouse NIH 3T3 cells.

In order to develop a simple, efficient system for the high-level expression of human insulin receptors in eukaryotic cells, a full-length human kidney insulin receptor cDNA was inserted into a bovine papilloma virus vector under the control of the mouse metallothionein promoter. After transfection of mouse NIH 3T3 cells with this construct, seven cell lines expressing insulin receptors were isolated; two cell lines had more than 10(6) receptors per cell. The cell line with the highest insulin binding (NIH 3T3 HIR3.5) had 6 X 10(6) receptors with a Kd of 10(-9) M. This level was not dependent on exposure to metals but could be increased further to 2 X 10(7) receptors per cell by addition of sodium butyrate to the culture medium. The alpha and beta subunits had apparent molecular weights of 147,000 and 105,000, respectively (compared to 135,000 and 95,000 in IM-9 human lymphocytes), values identical to those of the alpha and beta subunits of the insulin receptors of nontransformed NIH 3T3 cells. This size difference was due to altered carbohydrate composition, as N-glycanase digestion reduced the apparent receptor subunit size of the transfected cells and IM-9 lymphocytes to identical values. The alteration in N-linked oligosaccharide composition could not be ascribed to differences in the kinetics of posttranslational processing of the insulin receptors, which was comparable to that of other cells studied. The basal rate of glycogen synthesis in the cells overexpressing insulin receptors was increased 4- to 5-fold compared with controls. Low levels of added insulin (0.1 nM) caused a 50% increase in the rate of glycogen synthesis.

Animals↗

Use of a synthetic peptide antigen to generate antisera reactive with a proteolytic processing site in native human proinsulin: demonstration of cleavage within clathrin-coated (pro)secretory vesicles.

Polyclonal antibodies reactive with a cleavage site in human proinsulin (HPI) (C-peptide-A-chain junction) have been raised (rabbit, guinea pig) using a synthetic peptide antigen coupled with keyhole limpet hemocyanin. These antisera recognize native HPI and des-31,32-HPI equally well but react 20-50 times less well with des-64,65-HPI, the intermediate cleaved at the C-peptide-A-chain junction and lacking the Lys-Arg pair. The guinea pig antisera did not recognize insulin but reacted weakly with C peptide at high concentrations; the rabbit antisera reacted with neither insulin nor C peptide. Immunocytochemical studies with human islet tissue localized the immunoreactivity of these antisera to clathrin-coated (pro)secretory vesicles derived from the trans Golgi, indicating that cleavage of the C-peptide-A-chain junction of proinsulin occurs mainly, if not exclusively, in this compartment of the beta cell.

Antibodies↗

Sequence of a New World primate insulin having low biological potency and immunoreactivity.

The organization of the insulin gene of the owl or night monkey (Aotus trivirgatus), a New World primate, is similar to that of the human gene. The sequences of these two genes and flanking regions possess 84.3% homology. An unusual feature of the owl monkey gene is the partial duplication and insertion of a portion of the A-chain coding sequence into the 3' untranslated region. The insulin gene of this primate also lacks a region of tandem repeats that is present in the 5' flanking region of the human and chimpanzee genes. Owl monkey preproinsulin has 85.5% identity with the human insulin precursor and is the most divergent of the primate insulins/preproinsulins yet described. The differences between owl monkey and human preproinsulin include three substitutions in the signal peptide, two in the B chain, seven in the C peptide, and three in the A chain. One of these replacements is the conservative substitution of valine for isoleucine at position A2, an invariant site in all other vertebrate insulins and insulin-like growth factors. The substitutions in owl monkey insulin at B9, B27, A2, A4, and A17 alter its structure so that it has only 20% of the receptor-binding activity and 1% of the affinity with guinea pig anti-porcine insulin antibodies as compared to human insulin.

Amino Acid Sequence↗