Tea is a popular beverage. Recently, green tea was reported to increase the number of peroxisomes in rats. In this study, to find out whether the green tea-induced proliferation of peroxisomes is mediated by PPARalpha , a transient transfection assay was carried out to investigate the interactions of tea extracts (green tea, black tea,oolong tea and doongule tea) and tea components (epigallocatechin gallate, epigallocatechin, epicatechin gallate, epicatechin and gallic acid), with mouse cloned PPARalpha . Green tea and black tea extracts, and epigallocatechin gallate, a major component of fresh green tea leaves, increased the activation of PPAalpha 1.5-2 times compared with the control. It is suggested that the green tea induced-peroxisomal proliferation may be mediated through the transactivation of PPARalpha and that epigallocatechin gallate may be an effective component of green tea leaves. This would account for the increase in the number of peroxisomes and the activity of peroxisomal enzymes previously reported. However, black tea, a fully fermented product, had a stronger effect than oolong tea extract. These results also suggest, that in addition to epigallocatechin gallate, green tea leaves may possess some active chemicals newly produced as a result of the fermentation process, which act on PPARalpha like other peroxisome proliferators.
Animals ; COS Cells/enzymology ; Camellia sinensis ; Catechin/*analogs&derivatives/pharmacology ; Cercopithecus aethiops ; PPAR alpha/*metabolism ; Plant Extracts/*pharmacology ; Plasmids ; *Tea ; Trans-Activation (Genetics)/drug effects ; Transfection/veterinary

In this study, we amplified human lysosomal acid beta-glucosidase (GlcCerase) gene by RT-PCR from human placenta, and analyzed the sequence of the PCR product cloned in pMD-19T. The gene identity was 99% comparable to that of the reported human GlcCerase cDNA sequence in GenBank. The GlcCerase gene digested with Xho I was subcloned into eukaryotic express vector pEGFP-C1 to generate recombinant expression vector pEGFP-GlcCerase. After identified the recombinant plasmid by restriction enzyme digestion, we transfected pEGFP-GlcCerase into COS7 cells by liposome. GlcCerase mRNA was expressed and the activity of GlcCerase was also detected in COS7 cells. This study would lay a foundation for the function of GlcCerase and its production by transgenic bioreactor.
Animals ; COS Cells ; Cercopithecus aethiops ; Cloning, Molecular ; Genetic Vectors ; genetics ; Glucosylceramidase ; genetics ; metabolism ; Green Fluorescent Proteins ; genetics ; Humans ; Lysosomes ; enzymology ; Recombination, Genetic ; Transfection

Fabry disease is an X-linked inborn error of glycosphingolipid catabolism that results from mutations in the gene encoding the alpha-galactosidase A (GLA) enzyme. We have identified 15 distinct mutations in the GLA gene in 13 unrelated patients with classic Fabry disease and 2 unrelated patients with atypical Fabry disease. Two of the identified mutations were novel (i.e., the D231G missense mutation and the L268delfsX1 deletion mutation). This study evaluated the effects of the chemical chaperones 1-deoxygalactonojirimycin (DGJ) on the function of GLA in vitro, in cells containing missense mutations in the GLA gene. Nine missense and a nonsense mutations, including one novel mutation were cloned into mammalian expression vectors. After transient expression in COS-7 cells, GLA enzyme activity and protein expression were analyzed using fluorescence spectrophotometry and Western blot analysis, respectively. DGJ enhanced GLA enzyme activity in the M42V, I91T, R112C and F113L mutants. Interestingly, the I91T and F113L mutations are associated with the atypical form of Fabry disease. However, DGJ treatment did not have any significant effect on the GLA enzyme activity and protein expression of other mutants, including C142W, D231G, D266N, and S297F. Of note, GLA enzyme activity was not detected in the novel mutant (i.e., D231G), although protein expression was similar to the wild type. In the absence of DGJ, the E66Q mutant had wild-type levels of GLA protein expression and approximately 40% GLA activity, indicating that E66Q is either a mild mutation or a functional single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP). Thus, the results of this study suggest that the chemical chaperone DGJ enhances GLA enzyme activity and protein expression in milder mutations associated with the atypical form of Fabry disease.
1-Deoxynojirimycin/*analogs & derivatives/metabolism ; Adolescent ; Adult ; Animals ; Asian Continental Ancestry Group/*genetics ; COS Cells ; Cercopithecus aethiops ; Fabry Disease/*enzymology/genetics ; Gene Expression ; Humans ; Male ; Middle Aged ; Mutation ; Young Adult ; alpha-Galactosidase/*genetics/*metabolism

BMP6 is a member of TGF-beta superfamily, represent more effective osteogenic activity. Two recombinant plasmids were constructed to expression rhBMP6 in mammalian cells, one contained the cDNA encoding the signal peptide, propeptide and mature peptide of human BMP6, wich was named pcDNA-BMP6, the other contained the recombinant DNA encoding the signal peptide, propeptide of human BMP2 and the mature peptide of BMP6, which was named pcDNA-BMP2/6. Transient expression in Cos7 cells demonstrated that the pcDNA-BMP2/6 produced more rhBMP6 than pcDNA-BMP6. For stable expression, the CHO-dhfr- cells were transfected with pcDNA-BMP2/6 and pSV2-dhfr, then screened by G418 and treated with MTX for targeting gene amplification. The partially purified rhBMP6 by heparin affinity chromatography was shown to possess bone induction activity tested by the induction of alkaline phosphatase activity in C2C12 cells.
Alkaline Phosphatase ; metabolism ; Animals ; Blotting, Western ; Bone Morphogenetic Protein 2 ; genetics ; Bone Morphogenetic Protein 6 ; genetics ; metabolism ; pharmacology ; CHO Cells ; COS Cells ; Cell Line ; Cercopithecus aethiops ; Cricetinae ; Cricetulus ; Gene Expression ; Humans ; Myoblasts ; cytology ; drug effects ; enzymology ; Protein Precursors ; genetics ; Protein Sorting Signals ; genetics ; Recombinant Fusion Proteins ; genetics ; metabolism ; pharmacology ; Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ; Transfection

Phospholipase C-gamma1, containing two SH2 and one SH3 domains which participate in the interaction between signaling molecules, plays a significant role in the growth factor-induced signal transduction. However, the role of the SH domains in the growth factor-induced PLC-gamma1 regulation is unclear. By peptide-mass fingerprinting analysis, we have identified SHIP1 as the binding protein for the SH3 domain of PLC-gamma1. SHIP1 was co-immunoprecipitated with PLC-gamma1 and potentiated EGF-induced PLC-gamma1 activation. However, inositol 5'-phosphatase activity of SHIP1 was not required for the potentiation of EGF-induced PLC-gamma1 activation. Taken together, these results suggest that SHIP1 may function as an adaptor protein which can potentiate EGF-induced PLC-gamma1 activation without regards to its inositol 5'-phosphatase activity.
Adaptor Proteins, Signal Transducing ; Amino Acid Sequence ; Animals ; COS Cells/enzymology ; Cercopithecus aethiops ; Enzyme Activation ; Epidermal Growth Factor/*pharmacology ; Immunoprecipitation ; Inositol 1,4,5-Trisphosphate/metabolism ; Molecular Sequence Data ; Phospholipase C/chemistry/*metabolism ; Phosphoric Monoester Hydrolases/chemistry/*metabolism ; Protein Binding ; Signal Transduction ; src Homology Domains/*physiology