Faculty Articles

Developmental expression, cellular localization, and testosterone regulation of alpha 1-antitrypsin in Mus caroli kidney

Publication Title

The Journal of biological chemistry

Publisher

American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology

ISSN

0021-9258

Publication Date

9-15-1987

Keywords

Animals, Female, Gene Expression Regulation, Kidney Tubules, Proximal, Liver, Male, Mice, Mice, Inbred BALB C, Mice, Inbred C57BL, Mice, Inbred DBA, Muridae, Organ Specificity, RNA, Messenger, Sexual Maturation, Testosterone, alpha 1-Antitrypsin

Abstract

alpha 1-Antitrypsin (alpha 1-protease inhibitor), an essential plasma protein, is synthesized predominantly in the liver of all mammals. We have previously shown that Mus caroli, a Southeast Asian mouse species is exceptional in that it expresses abundantly alpha 1-antitrypsin mRNA and polypeptide, in the kidney as well as the liver (Berger, F.G., and Baumann, H. (1985) J. Biol. Chem. 260, 1160-1165) providing a unique model for examination of the evolution of genetic determinants of tissue-specific gene expression. In the present paper, we have further characterized alpha 1-antitrypsin expression in M. caroli. The extrahepatic expression of alpha 1-antitrypsin is limited to the kidney, specifically within a subset of the proximal tubule cells. The developmental pattern of alpha 1-antitrypsin mRNA expression in the kidney differs from that in the liver. In the kidney, alpha 1-antitrypsin mRNA is present at only 2-4% adult level at birth and increases very rapidly to adult level during puberty between 26 and 36 days of age. There are no significant changes in liver alpha 1-antitrypsin mRNA levels during this period. Testosterone, while having only modest affects on alpha 1-antitrypsin mRNA accumulation in the adult kidney, causes a 20-fold induction of the mRNA in the pre-pubertal kidney. This suggests that the increase in alpha 1-antitrypsin mRNA expression during puberty is testosterone mediated. Southern blot analyses of Mus domesticus and M. caroli genomic DNA and a cloned M. caroli alpha 1-antitrypsin genomic sequence, indicate that a single alpha 1-antitrypsin gene exists in M. caroli, whereas multiple copies exist in M. domesticus. These data show that the alteration in tissue specificity of alpha 1-antitrypsin mRNA accumulation that has occurred during Mus evolution is associated with distinctive developmental and hormonally regulated expression patterns.

Volume

262

Issue

26

First Page

12641

Last Page

12646

Disciplines

Medicine and Health Sciences | Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences

Link to Full Text
Peer Reviewed

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