Evidence for differences in the post-transcriptional regulation of rat metallothionein isoforms

• Type: Article in International Scientific Journal
• Date: 1996

Authors

Vasconcelos, MH (Author) Other; Tam, SC (Author) Other; Beattie, JH (Author) Other; Hesketh, JE (Author) Other

Journal

Title: Biochemical Journal

Vol. 315

Pages: 665-671

ISSN: 0264-6021

Publisher: PORTLAND PRESS LTD

Indexing

ISI Web of Knowledge

Scopus - 48 Citations

Other information

Authenticus ID: P-008-PKF

Abstract (EN): The expression of metallothionein (MT)-1 and -2 mRNAs in rat liver following administration of Cd or Cu was investigated using specific oligonucleotides. The specificity was confirmed using a competitive prehybridization assay. Cd injection caused a biphasic induction of both isoform mRNAs, whereas Cu induced a sustained, monophasic response. Analysis of polyribosomal RNA showed that, after both Cd and Cu treatments, the recruitment of MT-1 mRNA into polyribosomes paralleled the increase in transcription, but the increase of polyribosomal MT-2 mRNA was less than that of total MT-2 mRNA. This indicates that not all the MT-2 mRNA induced was translated, suggesting that there is translational control of MT-2 mRNA expression, but not of MT-1 mRNA. This hypothesis was supported by the observation that, after Cu treatment, the induction of MT-1 protein was induced to the same extent as MT-1 mRNA, whereas the total MT protein (MT-1 + MT-2) was increased far less (7-fold) than MT-2 mRNA (30-fold).

Language: English

Type (Professor's evaluation): Scientific

No. of pages: 7