Biomedical subjects

J Ghysdael

Publications and source records attributed to J Ghysdael.

At least 91 records · Page 5Linked to original sources

PubMed1990

Identification of a Ets1 variant protein unaffected in its chromatin and in vitro DNA binding capacities by T cell antigen receptor triggering and intracellular calcium rises.

We previously showed that thymocytes express high levels of c-ets-1 protein (Ets1) that can be rapidly phosphorylated following mitogenic stimulation using lectins. We demonstrate here that T cell receptor (TCR) specific stimulation with monoclonal antibodies of mature CD8+ or CD4+ T cells also results in the rapid phosphorylation of Ets1, reinforcing the hypothesis of a possible role for Ets1 in T cell activation. In addition to the major Ets1 product (mu-p63c-ets-1), we identify in mouse thymocytes and mature T cells a distinct 52 Kd Ets1 related protein (mu-p52c-ets-1). In contrast to the major Ets1 protein, mu-p52c-ets-1 is poorly phosphorylated in unstimulated cells. Furthermore, mitogenic stimulation of thymocytes and T cells failed to induce in mu-p52c-ets-1 the Ca2(+)-dependent phosphorylation events which are known to drastically affect the migration of the major Ets1 protein in SDS polyacrylamide gels. Mu-p52c-ets-1, like mu-p63c-ets-1, is a nuclear-chromatin associated protein which exhibits DNA binding activity in vitro. However, in contrast to the major Ets1 protein, the association of mu-p53c-ets-1 with chromatin and its ability to bind to DNA in vitro are unaffected by activation stimuli resulting in an increase in [Ca2+]i. Finally, we present indications suggesting that mu-p52c-ets-1 might be the murine equivalent of the translation product of an alternatively c-ets-1 spliced mRNA described in human cells by others.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1989

Heterogeneous distribution of nuclear triiodothyronine receptors in liver and preadipose cells as evidenced by their reactivity to antibodies against different protein products of erb A oncogenes.

Polyclonal antibodies raised in rabbits against bacterially produced peptides in the C-terminal region of v-erb A or human c-erb A alpha oncogenes recognize the nuclear triiodothyronine (T3) receptors in the T3-sensitive Ob 17 mouse preadipocyte cell line and not in mouse or rat liver. The results confirm the existence of different T3 receptors in different tissues. The results also suggest a heterogeneous receptor distribution within the preadipose cell line, with a predominance of c-erb A alpha-type species. Antibodies raised against domain 149 227, but not against domain 245-325, impair T3 binding, suggesting a role for this domain in ligand binding.

Adipose Tissue↗

PubMed1989

Thyroid hormone action and the erbA oncogene family.

In this review, we discuss the biological action and biochemical function of the v-erbA oncogene product, and the role of c-erbA proto-oncogene products as thyroid hormone receptors, as related to the molecular structure and function of the nuclear hormone receptors at large.

Animals↗

PubMed1989

Translocation of a store of maternal cytoplasmic c-myc protein into nuclei during early development.

The c-myc proto-oncogene is expressed as a maternal protein during oogenesis in Xenopus laevis, namely, in nondividing cells. A delayed translation of c-myc mRNA accumulated in early oocytes results in the accumulation of the protein during late oogenesis. The oocyte c-myc protein is unusually stable and is located in the cytoplasm, contrasting with its features in somatic cells. A mature oocyte contains a maternal c-myc protein stockpile of 4 x 10(5) to 6 x 10(5) times the level in a somatic growing cell. This level of c-myc protein is preserved only during the cleavage stage of the embryo. Fertilization triggers its rapid migration into the nuclei of the cleaving embryo and a change in the phosphorylation state of the protein. The c-myc protein content per nucleus decreases exponentially during the cleavage stage until a stoichiometric titration by the embryonic nuclei is reached during a 0.5-h period at the midblastula stage. Most of the maternal c-myc store is degraded by the gastrula stage. These observations implicate the participation of c-myc in the events linked to early embryonic development and the midblastula transition.

Animals↗

PubMed1989

Definition of an Ets1 protein domain required for nuclear localization in cells and DNA-binding activity in vitro.

Ets1 and Ets2 are nuclear phosphoproteins which bind to DNA in vitro and share two domains of strong identity. Deletion analyses of each of these conserved regions in Ets1 demonstrated that integrity of the carboxy-terminal domain, also conserved in the more distantly related elk and erg gene products, is essential for both nuclear targeting and DNA-binding activity in vitro.

Animals↗

PubMed1989

A domain containing leucine-zipper-like motifs mediate novel in vivo interactions between the thyroid hormone and retinoic acid receptors.

The thyroid hormones and retinoic acid are potent modulators of differentiation, development, and gene expression. The transcriptional activities of these ligands are mediated by closely related nuclear receptors which bind and activate identical hormone responsive DNA elements. We noticed that a region within the ligand binding or E domain is well conserved between receptors for these hormones. This region contains hydrophobic heptad repeats that are structurally similar to the leucine-zipper dimerization domain. To study the function of this conserved domain, we examined the transcriptional responses of thyroid hormone receptor/c-erbA deletion mutants which lacked the heptad repeats. We previously reported that the chick c-erbA-alpha possesses hormone-independent (constitutive) activity in cells which express endogenous rat thyroid hormone receptor. We now demonstrate that this activity is abolished upon deletion of the conserved heptad repeats. This suggests that the heptad repeats mediate in vivo interactions between chick c-erbA and rat thyroid hormone receptors. To further test this hypothesis deletion mutants of chick c-erbA were constructed which contained all eight heptad repeats but which lacked the zinc-finger DNA binding domain. Although these mutants are transcriptionally inactive, they act in a dominant-negative fashion to block trans-activation by both the chick c-erbA-alpha and the endogenous thyroid hormone and retinoic acid receptors. We suggest that the heptad repeats mediate the formation of inactive mutant/wild-type hetero-dimers. Dimer formation suggests a mechanism to account for the dominant-negative phenotypes displayed by nonhormone binding variants of c-erbA, the proto-oncoprotein v-erbA and patients with the generalized thyroid hormone resistance syndrome.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1989

The c-erbA alpha-encoded thyroid hormone receptor is phosphorylated in its amino terminal domain by casein kinase II.

The c-erbA alpha progenitor of the v-erbA oncogene of avian erythroblastosis virus (AEV) encodes a nuclear receptor for the thyroid hormone triiodothyronine (T3) which acts as a ligand-dependent transcription factor. As previously reported (Goldberg et al., EMBO J., 7, 2425-2433), the 46 kd chicken c-erbA alpha-encoded T3 receptor (ck-ErbA alpha) is phosphorylated at two major sites. Only one of these sites (Ser28/Ser29) is retained in the v-erbA-encoded P75gag-v-erbA protein. We report here the identification of the second phosphorylation site of ck-ErbA alpha as a single serine residue localized at position 12. We propose that casein kinase II, a protein kinase distributed in the cytosolic and nuclear compartments of a number of different tissues, is responsible for serine 12 phosphorylation on the following grounds. First, serine 12 is part of a sequence containing multiple acidic amino-acids, a feature common to all sites phosphorylated by casein kinase II in physiological substrates. Second, ck-ErbA alpha was found to be phosphorylated by purified casein kinase II in vitro at the same site, as defined by two-dimensional mapping experiments, as that observed in vivo. Third, conversion of serine 12 into an unphosphorylatable alanine residue by site directed mutagenesis abolishes the phosphorylation of ck-ErbA alpha by casein kinase II in vitro. Phosphorylation of serine 12 is likely to play a role in the modulation of ErbA alpha function since both serine 12 and the casein kinase II phosphorylation sequence motif are phylogenetically conserved in all known members of the c-erbA alpha gene family encoding T3 binding proteins. The codon specifying serine 12 in ck-ErbA alpha being precisely the point where recombination between gag and ck-c-erbA alpha occurred to generate v-erbA, our results furthermore suggest that deletion of serine 12 could contribute to the oncogenic activation of v-erbA.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1989

The c-ets-1 protein is chromatin associated and binds to DNA in vitro.

The c-ets-1 proto-oncogene is expressed at high levels in proliferating lymphoid cells. We show here that the chicken and murine c-ets-1 proteins are predominantly localized in the cell nucleus. Over 90% of the c-ets-1 protein can be released from isolated thymocyte nuclei by treatment with low salt buffer. Release from nuclei is also observed after treatment with micrococcal nuclease, but not with RNaseA, in conditions where digestion of only a minor fraction of chromatin occurs. c-ets-1 proteins exhibit DNA binding activity, suggesting that the association to chromatin is mediated at least in part by their association to DNA. We previously showed that mitogenic stimulation of thymocytes is accompanied by the rapid calcium-dependent phosphorylation of c-ets-1 proteins. We demonstrate here that these phosphorylation events abolish the ability of c-ets-1 proteins to bind to DNA in vitro and reduce their affinity for chromatin, lending further support to the importance of these modifications in the regulation of c-ets-1 protein function.

Animals↗

PubMed1988

Replacement of lys 622 in the ATP binding domain of P100gag-mil abolishes the in vitro autophosphorylation of the protein and the biological properties of the v-mil oncogene of MH2 virus.

Lysine 622 in the ATP-binding domain of P100gag-mil, the translation product of the v-mil oncogene of MH2, has been replaced with methionine using oligonucleotide site-directed mutagenesis. This substitution results in the inactivation of the serine/threonine-specific autophosphorylation of P100gag-mil in vitro, indicating that this activity is an intrinsic property of the viral protein. This substitution also suppresses two of the biological properties of MH2 which have previously been shown to be dependant upon the expression of v-mil, namely, the production of chicken myelomonocytic growth factor (cMGF) by v-myc-transformed chicken macrophages and the sustained proliferation of chicken neuroretina cells. These data strongly suggest that the biological properties of v-mil are mediated by the phosphorylation at serine/threonine residues of key cellular substrates. In contrast to the in vitro situation, both the mutant and wild-type proteins appear to be phosphorylated at the same sites and to the same extent in either transformed fibroblasts or macrophages. This, together with the fact that the sites phosphorylated in vivo and in vitro are essentially different indicate that most of the phosphate associated with P100gag-mil in transformed cells does not result from an obligate autophosphorylation event but from the phosphorylation by as yet uncharacterized cellular kinase(s).

Adenosine Triphosphate↗

PubMed1988

Identification in chickens of an evolutionarily conserved cellular ets-2 gene (c-ets-2) encoding nuclear proteins related to the products of the c-ets proto-oncogene.

In chicken cells, we previously identified a set of proteins (p58-64) structurally related to, but distinct from, the products encoded by the c-ets proto-oncogene. We report here the isolation and nucleotide sequence of a cDNA encoding nuclear products of mol. wt 58, 60, 62 and 64 kd, indistinguishable from those detected in chicken cells. The p60 and p64 species appear to represent phosphorylated versions on serine and threonine residues of p58 and p62. The homology of p58-64 to other ets-related proteins, including the v-ets encoded domain of the transforming protein of avian leukemia virus E26 and p54c-ets, the translation product of the chicken (Ck) c-ets gene, is confined to two regions of 175 and 96 amino acid residues localized respectively at the carboxy-terminal domain and close to the amino-terminal domain of these molecules. This cDNA corresponds to a gene localized in a locus distinct from that of c-ets which is transcribed as a 4.0-kb RNA species in most chicken tissues. We also identified the human (Hu) c-ets-2-encoded products as two proteins of 60 and 62 kd, highly related to chicken p58-64. This, together with the fact that the amino acid sequence of the cDNA encoding p58-64 is 95% identical to the reported partial sequence of a Hu-c-ets-2 cDNA, indicates that p58-64 are the translation products of the Ck-c-ets-2 gene.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1988

Mitogenic stimulation of thymocytes results in the calcium-dependent phosphorylation of c-ets-1 proteins.

Human, murine and chicken c-ets-1 proteins migrate in SDS-polyacrylamide gels as multiple species. We show here that most if not all of this heterogeneity is due to phosphorylation events occurring predominantly on serine and to a lesser extent on threonine residues. These phosphorylations can be specifically and rapidly stimulated by treatment with the calcium ionophore A23187 or abolished by lowering the extracellular calcium concentration to less than 0.1 microM. The products encoded by c-ets-2 are also phosphorylated in a Ca2+-dependent manner, indicating that these modifications have been conserved in the products encoded by different members of the same gene family. In thymocytes, where the expression of c-ets-1 is elevated as compared with other cell types, c-ets-1 protein phosphorylation occurs after stimulation with mitogenic doses of concanavalin A, is short lived and is strictly dependent upon extracellular Ca2+ sources. This suggests that the c-ets-1 gene product may play a role in the Ca2+-mediated early events linked to T-cell activation.

Animals↗

PubMed1988

Activation of protein kinase C or cAMP-dependent protein kinase increases phosphorylation of the c-erbA-encoded thyroid hormone receptor and of the v-erbA-encoded protein.

The c-erbA proto-oncogene encodes a nuclear receptor for thyroid hormone (T3), which is believed to stimulate transcription from specific target promoters upon binding to cis-acting DNA sequence elements. The v-erbA oncogene of avian erythroblastosis virus (AEV) encodes a ligand-independent version of this nuclear receptor. The v-erbA product inhibits terminal differentiation of avian erythroblasts, presumably by affecting the transcription of specific genes. We show here that the c-erbA-encoded nuclear receptor (p46c-erbA) is phosphorylated on serine residues on two distinct sites. One of these sites, defined by the limit tryptic phosphopeptide 28SSQCLVK, is retained on the v-erbA-encoded P75gag-v-erbA protein. This site is located in the amino-terminal domain of these molecules, 21 amino acids upstream of the DNA-binding region. Phosphorylation of this site in both p46c-erbA and P75gag-v-erbA is enhanced 10-fold following treatment of cells with activators of either protein kinase C or cAMP-dependent protein kinase. Since cAMP-dependent protein kinase phosphorylates both p46c-erbA and P75gag-v-erbA in vitro at the same site as that observed in vivo, at least part of the cAMP-dependent phosphorylation of erbA molecules in cells could result from direct phosphorylation by this enzyme. The possible role phosphorylation may play in the function of the erbA-encoded transcriptional factors is discussed.

Alpharetrovirus↗

PubMed1988

Differences in antibody recognition of the triiodothyronine nuclear receptor and c-erbA products.

The in vitro translated products of several c-erbA cDNAs have recently been shown to bind thyroid hormones with high affinity and have been termed thyroid hormone receptors. We have used a panel of five erbA-related antibodies to probe the relationship between c-erbA translated products and thyroid hormone receptors, as conventionally measured by 125I-T3 labeling of nuclear extracts. All five antibodies immunoprecipitated the chick c-erbA translated products, but only one of them recognized chick liver and brain T3 receptor, as judged by acceleration of sedimentation through sucrose gradients. None of the antibodies reacted with rat liver and brain or human liver T3 receptors, although one antibody did immunoprecipitate a human c-erbA translated product. We conclude that the T3 receptor, as conventionally measured from these sources, is related but not identical to recently cloned c-erbA sequences.

Animals↗

PubMed1988

An invariant asparagine residue belonging to a highly conserved domain in all protein kinases is instrumental in the protein kinase activity of the v-mil gene product.

P100gag-mil, the translation product of the v-mil oncogene of MH2 is a protein kinase specific of serine/threonine residues. We report here that the P100gag-mil encoded by the MH2-Hd isolate displays a considerably reduced kinase activity in vitro. Construction of chimeric viruses and sequencing revealed that the lesion responsible for this reduced activity results from a single point mutation converting an asparagine residue at position 720 in fully active P100gag-mil kinase into serine in the P100gag-mil of MH2-Hd. Since this asparagine residue together with an invariant aspartate residue bracket a highly conserved 6 amino-acid region in all known protein kinases as well as in phosphotransferases of bacterial origin, our results indicate that integrity of this region is essential to enzymatic function and support the notion that it could be directly involved in ATP binding or phosphate transfer from ATP to kinase substrates.

Animals↗

PubMed1988

Cloning and expression of chicken p54c-ets cDNAs: the first p54c-ets coding exon is located into the 40.0 kbp genomic domain unrelated to v-ets.

We have isolated cDNA clones of chicken c-ets mRNA the longest of which, designated pCk E54A, contained approximately 2.0 kb of a c-ets mRNA species. Nucleotide sequencing of this clone revealed a single long open reading frame, extending from the first ATG codon (nucleotide +1) to a TGA termination codon at nucleotide 1324. The predicted translation product contains 441 amino acid residues and its molecular weight is 48 kd. Expression in COS-1 cells of this clone resulted in the synthesis of polypeptides immunologically indistinguishable from the authentic p54c-ets after one-dimensional gel electrophoresis. Comparison of the nucleotide sequence of this cDNA to that of v-ets of avian acute leukemia virus E26 showed that both sequences are almost colinear with the exception of five point mutations but present striking differences in their 5' and 3' parts. 79 nucleotides downstream of the first ATG codon in c-ets cDNA are not found in the 5' part of v-ets where they are replaced by 223 different nucleotides. The 3' parts of v-ets and the coding region of the chicken c-ets cDNAs are also different: the last 13 codons of the cDNA are replaced by 16 different codons in v-ets. Thus our results precisely define the structural differences between the ets encoded domain of E26 viral transforming protein (P135 gag-myb-ets) and the normal cellular protein p54c-ets expressed at high levels in chicken thymocytes and bursal lymphocytes. They also suggest the possibility of alternative splicing of different 5' exons to a common set of 3' exons.

Amino Acid Sequence↗

PubMed1987

Expression of the v-erbA oncogene in chicken embryo fibroblasts stimulates their proliferation in vitro and enhances tumor growth in vivo.

In contrast to uninfected chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEFs), CEFs infected with a retroviral vector that carries the v-erbA gene of avian erythroblastosis virus displayed new properties. These included limited anchorage-independent growth in soft agar, growth without latency in serum-supplemented medium, ability to overcome quiescence induced by serum deprivation, growth at low cell density, and an extended life span in vitro. Furthermore, when explanted in vivo onto the chorioallantoic membrane of chicken embryo, the transformed CEFs expressing v-erbA in addition to v-erbB exhibited a high proliferative rate, giving rise to fibrosarcoma tumors that were ten times larger than those developed from transformed CEFs expressing v-erbB alone. All these data show that CEFs expressing the v-erbA oncogene display activated growth and suggest that the v-erbA product interferes with the mechanisms regulating the growth and/or differentiation of primary CEFs.

Alpharetrovirus↗

PubMed1987

The bovine leukemia virus p34 is a transactivator protein.

Recombinant Moloney murine retroviruses containing the BLV post-envelope long open reading frame were constructed and transfected into the psi 2 packaging cell line. They were shown to encode and to express a 34-kd protein able to transactivate the BLV long terminal repeat-directed gene expression in the respective transfected cells. These data demonstrate that the BLV X-LOR gene encodes a p34 transactivator product. Furthermore, the different cell lines produced infectious recombinant retroviruses capable of transferring X-LOR genes into recipient cells. The availability of the BLV transactivator protein should allow us to understand the role of the transactivator protein in BLV-induced leukemogenesis.

Animals↗

PubMed1987

The 5' extremity of the v-ets oncogene of avian leukemia virus E26 encodes amino acid sequences not derived from the major c-ets-encoded cellular proteins.

Antibodies were prepared against bacterially expressed polypeptides corresponding to various portions of the v-ets-encoded domain of P135gag-myb-ets, the transforming protein of avian leukemia virus E26. Immunoprecipitation analyses show that ca. 80 v-ets-encoded amino-acids located immediately after the v-myb/v-ets junction are not found in P54/56c-ets, the translation product of the c-ets proto-oncogene, nor in a set of cellular proteins of 64, 62, and 60 kDa related to but distinct from P54/56c-ets. In addition, Northern blot analyses show that these 5' v-ets sequences neither derive from the nontranslated region of the known cellular transcripts hybridizing to a v-ets probe nor from the c-myb transcript or the helper virus genetic information. Tryptic peptide analyses furthermore indicate that, except for these sequences and the last 16 carboxy terminal amino acids of P135gag-myb-ets, the amino acids encoded by v-ets are essentially colinear with those of P54c-ets.

Amino Acid Sequence↗