Polymorphism of contractile proteins.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M Buckingham.
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A procedure was developed to determine the percentage of skeletal muscle actin and cardiac actin present in different striated muscle tissues. The method was applied to 2 mg of actin mixtures isolated from various origins. All samples show simultaneous expression of both striated muscle isoactins, with the cardiac actin being the major form (congruent to 80%) in 11-day-old chick embryonic leg muscle, decreasing to approximately 50% values in the late fetal stage of chicken, mouse, and in fused mouse muscle cell cultures and becoming the minor species (less than 5%) in adult skeletal muscle tissues. We also find a significant amount (up to 20%) of the skeletal muscle isoform in adult heart (ventricle) of porcine, bovine, and human origin and no differences in muscle actin ratios in human atrium and ventriculum cells. Similarly, no significant variation in the actin ratios was observed between a normal heart and a heart from a patient with hereditary obstructive myopathy. For those cells and tissues where comparison with levels of mRNA was possible we mostly find a good correlation between the relative ratios of expression of cardiac and skeletal actin proteins and mRNAs.
The initial formation of skeletal muscle fibers is accompanied by the expression of muscle-type actin and myosin genes. During subsequent maturation of muscle fibers in vivo, developmental changes in the fetal/adult isoforms of these proteins occur. Skeletal muscle-specific transcripts coding for different myosin heavy chains accumulate sequentially both in vivo and in vitro. A genetic analysis demonstrates that these genes are clustered, implicating cis-acting regulatory factors. In contrast, actin and myosin light chain genes are dispersed in the mouse genome. These gene families show a different developmental "strategy": Genes expressed in adult cardiac tissue are coexpressed with the corresponding skeletal muscle sequence during fetal development. This phenomenon also occurs in adult tissue. Under conditions of cardiac overload, adult rat hearts accumulate skeletal actin mRNA and cardiac actin transcripts. In some mouse lines, a mutant cardiac actin gene locus is present. The presence of a second active upstream promoter at this locus depresses transcription of the bone fide gene, resulting in low levels of mature cardiac actin mRNA. In this situation skeletal actin gene transcripts accumulate. Genes expressed in the same fetal or adult muscle phenotype are not linked, suggesting that their coexpression is regulated by transacting factors. The promoter regions of such genes in the mouse have no common characteristics of primary structure with the exception of an E1A-type enhancer core sequence, which has a conserved 5' flanking element, seen for actin and myosin light chain genes. Reintroduction of these promoter regions into muscle cells provides a functional test for such potential regulatory sequences.
We have determined the sequences of three recombinant cDNAs complementary to different mouse actin mRNAs that contain more than 90% of the coding sequences and complete or partial 3' untranslated regions (3'UTRs): pAM 91, complementary to the actin mRNA expressed in adult skeletal muscle (alpha sk actin); pAF 81, complementary to an actin mRNA that is accumulated in fetal skeletal muscle and is the major transcript in adult cardiac muscle (alpha c actin); and pAL 41, identified as complementary to a beta nonmuscle actin mRNA on the basis of its 3'UTR sequence. As in other species, the protein sequences of these isoforms are highly (greater than 93%) conserved, but the three mRNAs show significant divergence (13.8-16.5%) at silent nucleotide positions in their coding regions. A nucleotide region located toward the 5' end shows significantly less divergence (5.6-8.7%) among the three mouse actin mRNAs; a second region, near the 3' end, also shows less divergence (6.9%), in this case between the mouse beta and alpha sk actin mRNAs. We propose that recombinational events between actin sequences may have homogenized these regions. Such events distort the calculated evolutionary distances between sequences within a species. Codon usage in the three actin mRNAs is clearly different, and indicates that there is no strict relation between the tissue type, and hence the tRNA precursor pool, and codon usage in these and other muscle mRNAs examined. Analysis of codon usage in these coding sequences in different vertebrate species indicates two tendencies: increases in bias toward the use of G and C in the third codon position in paralogous comparisons (in the order alpha c less than beta less than alpha sk), and in orthologous comparisons (in the order chicken less than rodent less than man). Comparison of actin-coding sequences between species was carried out using the Perler method of analysis. As one moves backward in time, changes at silent sites first accumulate rapidly, then begin to saturate after -(30-40) million years (MY), and actually decrease between -400 and -500 MY. Replacements or silent substitutions therefore cannot be used as evolutionary clocks for these sequences over long periods. Other phenomena, such as gene conversion or isochore compartmentalization, probably distort the estimated divergence time.
Cardiac hypertrophy due to a chronic hemodynamic overload is accompanied by isoformic changes of two proteins of the thick filament of the sarcomere, myosin, and creatine phosphokinase. We have looked for isoactin changes, using deoxyribonucleic acid probes complementary to alpha-skeletal and alpha-cardiac actin messenger ribonucleic acids. Three groups of rats were studied at various days after application of a pressure overload (2-4 days, n = 13, 8-15 days, n = 5, and 30-40 days, n = 7) and were compared to control animals (n = 11). Whereas alpha-skeletal actin messenger ribonucleic acids were hardly detectable in the normal hearts (0.6 +/- 0.16%), they accumulated significantly in the first 4 days after the aortic stenosis (4.6 +/- 3.1%, p less than 0.001 vs. controls) and then slowly declined (8-15 days, 3.2 +/- 1.7% and 30-40 days, 1.6 +/- 0.6%, p less than 0.05 and NS vs. controls). This figure is similar to that observed in 8-day-old rats (2.27 +/- 0.3%, p less than 0.01 vs. controls). We conclude that, in rat myocardium, the expression of messenger ribonucleic acids encoding the sarcomeric actins is altered at the onset of a pressure overload hypertrophy. Although the physiological significance of isoactin changes is unknown, our results show that the thin filament participates as well as the thick filament in the response of cardiac muscle to new functional requirements.
A single locus in the mouse, rat and chicken encodes both alkali myosin light chains, MLC1F and MLC3F. This gene has two distinct promoters and gives rise to two different primary transcripts, which are processed by alternative and different modes of splicing to form MLC1F and MLC3F mRNAs. The MLC1F/MLC3F gene is very similar between mouse, rat and chicken, in terms of its overall structure, the length and location of the introns, and the splice site consensus sequences. Nucleotide sequences of coding regions are very conserved but 3' and 5' non coding regions of the mRNAs have diverged. In the MLC1F promoter regions, several blocks of nucleotides are highly conserved (more than 70% homology), especially a sequence of about 70 nucleotides, located between positions -80 and -150 relative to the Cap site. Conserved blocks of homology are also found in the MLC3F promoter regions, although the common sequences are shorter. The presence of such highly conserved nucleotide sequences in the 5' flanking regions suggests that these sequences are functionally important in initiation of transcription and regulation of expression of this complex gene. Primer extension experiments indicate multiple cap sites for MLC3F mRNA.
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To evaluate the mechanisms for improved left ventricular function with MDL 17,043 in patients with severe chronic heart failure, 24 patients were evaluated by simultaneous determination of hemodynamics by right heart catheterization and ejection fraction by computerized nuclear probe before and following intravenous administration of MDL 17,043 (mean cumulative dose 3.6 mg/kg). Following MDL 17,043, there was an increase in cardiac index (+62%), stroke volume index (+42%), and stroke work index (+68%), together with a decrease in pulmonary capillary wedge pressure (-46%), indicating improved left ventricular pump function. There was a marked reduction in systemic vascular resistance (-40%) and a modest reduction in arterial pressure, indicating decreased left ventricular outflow resistance. The ratio of peak systolic blood pressure to calculated left ventricular end-systolic volume tended to increase, but the change was not statistically significant. Despite a marked increment in stroke volume index, left ventricular ejection time corrected for heart rate was shortened, suggesting enhanced contractility. In the group as a whole, the calculated left ventricular end-diastolic volume remained unchanged, but it increased in 14 patients. Since pulmonary capillary wedge pressure fell in each patient, this suggests improved overall left ventricular distensibility. Thus, decreased left ventricular outflow resistance, and possibly increased contractile function, and improved left ventricular diastolic compliance may all contribute to improved left ventricular pump function with MDL 17,043 in patients with severe heart failure.
Two loci have been characterized in the mouse Mus musculus, which are homologous to the mRNAs encoding myosin light chains MLC1F and MLC3F, two proteins with a common -COOH terminal sequence. One of these loci is an intronless pseudogene, absent from the mouse species Mus spretus; alterations in its nucleotide sequence preclude it from generating a functional MLC1F or MLC3F. The other contains the genetic information for the two proteins. The part common to both proteins is encoded by five exons, which cover about 6.5 kb. Genetic information specific for the N-terminal sequences is encoded in four exons, at 3.5 and 14.3 kb for MLC1F, and 3.8 and 4.5 kb for MLC3F, upstream of the first common exon. Each 5' terminus has a TATA-like consensus sequence about 30 bases upstream of the cap site. The pseudogene is not genetically linked to the functional MLC1F/MLC3F locus in the genome of Mus musculus.
In order to study developmental transitions of myosin heavy chain gene expression, we have cloned from newborn mouse skeletal muscle a recombinant plasmid (plasmid MHC 32) that contains an insertion coding for the COOH-terminal portion of an adult fast myosin heavy chain isoform of mouse skeletal muscle. By Northern blots and dot blots, it has been shown that the MHC 32 sequence reveals a broad cross-hybridization with RNA from different mammalian striated muscle tissues. Southern blots with mouse genomic DNA show only one homologous gene, but cross-hybridization at lower stringency to seven to eight different bands, some containing multiple genomic fragments, among which are probably the genes encoding the different striated muscle isoforms. S1 protection experiments with RNA from mouse skeletal muscle before and after birth demonstrate that plasmid MHC 32 is homologous to a major mRNA species of adult skeletal muscle. This adult mRNA is a predominant sequence within 5-6 days after birth. It begins to accumulate at 1-3 days; at the 18th day fetal stage, another major mRNA species is detected as partially homologous with the adult MHC 32 sequence. This fetal myosin heavy chain mRNA is still predominant at 1-3 days after birth, but is rapidly (by 5-6 days) replaced by the adult MHC sequence. There is thus a rapid transition after birth from fetal to adult skeletal muscle myosin heavy chain mRNA sequences.
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A recombinant plasmid with a cDNA sequence transcribed from mouse skeletal muscle RNA is shown to hybridize with mRNAs for myosin light chains LC1F and LC3F. The inserted fragment corresponds exclusively to the 3'-noncoding region of the mRNA. It hybridizes almost exclusively with the two light chain messengers from fast skeletal muscle RNA of adult mouse. Slight hybridization is seen with RNA from heart muscle and embryonic skeletal muscle. The implications of the conservation of the 3'-noncoding regions between the two mRNAs are discussed.
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By three different lines of evidence there are approximately 20 copies of actin genes in the human genome. Firstly, the rate of hybridisation of a mouse actin probe to human DNA indicates that there are a minimum of 20 complementary copies of the actin sequence per genome. Secondly, this probe hybridises to 17-20 bands in Southern blots of restriction enzyme digests of total human DNA. Most of these bands hybridise with both 3' and 5' fragments of the cDNA and are therefore likely to contain the entire gene sequence. Thirdly, we have picked 12 actin recombinants from a genomic library, and at the level of restriction enzymes mapping these represent nine different genes. Probability calculations indicate that these recombinants were picked from a pool of at least 20 different genes.