Structural and Functional Organization of the Gene Encoding the Human Thyrotropin-Releasing Hormone Receptor (original) (raw)
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Journal of Molecular Endocrinology, 1993
We have isolated the TRH receptor (TRH-R) from a rat anterior pituitary cDNA library, determined its sequence and examined its functional characteristics. Expression studies were carried out in Xenopus oocytes and in COS-7 cells. Microinjection of sense RNA transcripts into Xenopus oocytes showed electrophysiological responses of between 800 and 1000 nA under voltage-clamp conditions. COS-7 cells were transiently transfected with the cDNA clone under the control of a cytomegalovirus promoter and inositol phosphate (IP) measurements carried out. In TRH-R transfected cells, TRH (100 nm) produced an approximately twofold increase in total IP production. In-situ hybridization in the rat anterior pituitary revealed a heterogeneous distribution of label, a characteristic pattern of TRH-R expression. The rat 3·3 kb insert coded for a protein of 411 amino acids compared with 393 for the mouse protein. Over its length, the rat TRH-R protein showed considerable homology with that of the mouse...
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1991
Regulation of human thyrotropin beta subunit gene (TSHB) expression by thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) was examined in a clonal rat pituitary-cell line (GH3). Transient expression studies were done with various 5'-flanking DNA sequences of TSHB coupled to reporter gene chloramphenicol acetyltransferase. Deletion analysis defined two discrete regions (-128 to -92 base pairs and -28 to +8 base pairs) that each mediated an approximately 2-fold TRH induction. The upstream site contains a DNA sequence with close homology to the DNA-binding site for a pituitary-specific transcriptional factor Pit-1/GHF-1. DNase I footprinting analysis of mouse thyrotropic tumor extract as well as DNA-transfection studies using an expression vector containing an N-terminal deletion of Pit-1/GHF-1 cDNA suggest that Pit-1/GHF-1 or a closely related protein in the thyrotroph mediates TRH responsiveness of this gene. In addition, the downstream site overlaps with the recently characterized thyroid horm...
Biochemical Journal, 1992
Functional thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH) receptors have been expressed in Xenopus laevis oocytes following the microinjection of total and poly(A)+ RNA from GH3 rat anterior pituitary tumour cells. Under voltage-clamp conditions, application of the peptide induced a biphasic Ca(2+)-dependent chloride current. The amplitude of the initial, fast, component of the response was dependent on the concentration of the hormone and on the amount of mRNA injected. Size fractionation of poly(A)+ RNA on a continuous sucrose gradient and Northern blot analysis indicated that the receptor was encoded by an mRNA of approx. 3.5 kb. A 3.28 kbp cDNA encoding the TRH receptor has been cloned and sequenced. Full functionality of the predicted 412-amino-acid receptor protein was demonstrated by functional expression of cell surface receptors in Xenopus oocytes after both cytoplasmic injection of sense RNA transcribed in vitro from this cDNA and nuclear injection of the cDNA under the control of th...
Identification of pituitary thyrotrope signature genes and regulatory elements
bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory), 2020
Pituitary thyrotropes are specialized cells that produce thyroid stimulating hormone (TSH), a critical factor for growth and maintenance of metabolism. The transcription factors POU1F1 and GATA2 have been implicated in thyrotrope fate and transcriptional regulation of the beta subunit of TSH, Tshb, but no transcriptomic or epigenomic analyses of these cells has been undertaken. The goal of this work was to discover key transcriptional regulatory elements that drive thyrotrope fate. We identified the transcription factors and epigenomic changes in chromatin that are associated with differentiation of POU1F1-expressing progenitors into thyrotropes, a process modeled by two cell lines: one that represents an early, undifferentiated Pou1f1 lineage progenitor (GHF-T1) and one that is a committed thyrotrope that produces TSH (TαT1). We generated and compared RNA-seq, ATAC-seq, histone modification (including H3K27Ac, H3K4Me1, and H3K27Me3), and transcription factor (POU1F1) binding in these two cell lines to identify regulatory elements and candidate transcriptional regulators. We identified POU1F1 binding sites that were unique to each cell line. POU1F1 binding sites are commonly associated with bZIP transcription factor consensus binding sites in GHF-T1 cells and Helix-Turn-Helix (HTH) or basic Helix-Loop-Helix (bHLH) factors in TαT1 cells, suggesting that these classes of transcription factors may recruit or cooperate with POU1F1 binding to unique sites. We validated enhancer function of novel elements we mapped near Cga, Pitx1, Gata2, and Tshb by transfection in TαT1 cells. Finally, we confirmed that an enhancer element near Tshb can drive expression in thyrotropes of transgenic mice, and we demonstrate that GATA2 enhances Tshb expression through this element. These results extend the ENCODE multi-omic profiling approach to an organ that is critical for growth and metabolism, which should be valuable for understanding pituitary development and disease pathogenesis.