A novel Rel protein and shortened isoform that differentially regulate antibacterial peptide genes in the silkworm Bombyx mori

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• 作者：Hiromitsu Tanaka ; Masafumi Yamamoto ; Yuko Moriyama ; Masafumi Yamao ; Seiichi Furukawa ; Aki Sagisaka ; Hiroshi Nakazawa ; Hajime Mori and Minoru Yamakawa
• 关键词：Rel protein ; Insect immunity ; Antibacterial peptide ; Transgenic silkworm ; Gene knockdown ; Differential transcriptional regulation
• 刊名：Biochimica et Biophysica Acta (BBA)/Gene Structure and Expression
• 出版年：2005
• 出版时间：2005
• 年：2005
• 卷：1730
• 期：1
• 页码：10-21
• 全文大小：952 K

文摘

Two cDNAs encoding novel Rel proteins were cloned from the silkworm, Bombyx mori. These cDNA clones (BmRelA and BmRelB) showed identical nucleotide sequences except for the 5′-region. BmRelB cDNA derived probably from an alternatively spliced mRNA lacked 241 bp nucleotides at the 5′-region of the BmRelA cDNA, resulting in a loss of the first 52 amino acids. Expression of antibacterial peptide genes was strongly inhibited upon infection with Micrococcus luteus in transgenic silkworms in which BmRel gene expression was knocked down, suggesting that these two Rel proteins are involved in activation of antibacterial peptide genes. Co-transfection experiments indicated that BmRelB activated the Attacin gene strongly and other genes to a lesser extent, whereas BmRelA activated Lebocin 4 gene strongly and Attacin and Lebocin 3 genes very weakly. The Rel homology domain of BmRelA and BmRelB was shown to bind specifically to κB sites of antibacterial peptide genes. Proline-rich domains of the BmRels were necessary for activation of antibacterial peptide genes. These results illustrate that a minor structural change in Rel proteins can provoke a dramatic differential activation of antibacterial peptide genes, suggesting a novel regulatory mechanism for insect antibacterial peptide gene expression.