-
Journal of Medical Genetics 01/2005; 41(12):951-6. · 6.36 Impact Factor
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: Antizyme is a critical regulator of cellular polyamine levels due to its effect on polyamine transport and its ability to target ornithine decarboxylase for degradation. Antizyme expression is autoregulatory, through dependence on an unusual +1 translational frameshift mechanism that responds to polyamine levels.
HEK293 cells were depleted of polyamines by treatment with an ornithine decarboxylase inhibitor, difluoromethylornithine (DFMO), and grown in the presence or absence of exogenous polyamines prior to the analysis of ribosomal frameshifting levels. Results obtained using an optimized dual luciferase assay system reveal a 10-fold dynamic range of frameshifting, which correlates positively with polyamine addition. Polyamine addition to cells, which have not been pre-treated with DFMO, also resulted in an increase in antizyme frameshifting but to a lesser degree (1.3 to 1.5-fold). In addition, the constructs with the 3' deletion were more responsive to stimulation by polyamine addition than those with the 5' deletion.
The observed regulation of antizyme frameshifting demonstrates the efficiency of a polyamine homeostatic mechanism, and illustrates the utility of a quantifiable cell-based assay for the analysis of polyamines or their analogues on translational frameshifting.
Genes to Cells 12/2001; 6(11):931-41. · 2.68 Impact Factor
-
J F Atkins,
P V Baranov,
O Fayet,
A J Herr, M T Howard,
I P Ivanov,
S Matsufuji,
W A Miller,
B Moore,
M F Prère,
N M Wills,
J Zhou,
R F Gesteland
Cold Spring Harbor Symposia on Quantitative Biology 02/2001; 66:217-32.
-
[show abstract]
[hide abstract]
ABSTRACT: As a result of their ability to induce translational readthrough of stop codons, the aminoglycoside antibiotics are currently being tested for efficacy in the treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy patients carrying a nonsense mutation in the dystrophin gene. We have undertaken a systematic analysis of aminoglycoside-induced readthrough of each stop codon in human tissue culture cells using a dual luciferase reporter system. Significant differences in the efficiency of aminoglycoside-induced readthrough were observed, with UGA showing greater translational readthrough than UAG or UAA. Additionally, the nucleotide in the position immediately downstream from the stop codon had a significant impact on the efficiency of aminoglycoside-induced readthrough in the order C > U > A > or = G. Our studies show that the efficiency of stop codon readthrough in the presence of aminoglycosides is inversely proportional to the efficiency of translational termination in the absence of these compounds. Using the same assay, we analyzed a 33-base pair fragment of the mouse dystrophin gene containing the mdx premature stop codon mutation UAA (A), which is also the most efficient translational terminator. The additional flanking sequences from the dystrophin gene do not significantly change the relatively low-level aminoglycoside-induced stop codon readthrough of this stop codon. The implications of these results for drug efficacy in the treatment of individual patients with Duchenne muscular dystrophy or other genetic diseases caused by nonsense mutations are discussed.
Annals of Neurology 08/2000; 48(2):164-9. · 11.09 Impact Factor