Volume 272, Number 42,
Issue of October 17, 1997
pp. 26166-26172
©1997 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.
Characterization of the Dictyostelium discoideum
Cellulose-binding Protein CelB and Regulation of Gene Expression
(Received for publication, March 20, 1997, and in revised form, July 2, 1997)
Ramachandran
Ramalingam
and
Herbert L.
Ennis
From the Roche Institute of Molecular Biology, Roche Research
Center, Nutley, New Jersey 07110
Similar to other stages of
Dictyostelium development, spore germination is a
particularly suitable model for studying regulation of gene expression.
The transition from spore to amoeba is accompanied by developmentally
regulated changes in both protein and mRNA synthesis. A number of
spore germination-specific cDNAs have been isolated previously.
Among these are two members of the 270 gene family, a group of four
genes defined by the presence of a common tetrapeptide repeat of
Thr-Glu-Thr-Pro. celA (formerly called 270-6) and
celB (formerly 270-11) are expressed solely and
coordinately during spore germination, the levels of the respective
mRNAs being low in dormant spores, rising during germination to a
maximum level at about 2 h, and then rapidly declining as amoebae
are released from spores. The mRNAs are not found in growing cells or during multicellular development. The rapidity with which these transcripts accumulate and then disappear during germination implies that the respective products may be important for the process. We
reported previously that the CelA protein is a cellulase
(endo-1,4-
-glucanase (EC 3.2.1.4)). In the present investigation,
properties of the CelB protein, a glycosylated protein of 532 amino
acids, 36% of which are serine or threonine, were examined, and the
upstream sequences involved in the developmental regulation of the
expression of the gene have been determined. The CelB protein does not
demonstrate cellulase activity, but it has a cellulose-binding domain.
Its role, if any, in degradation of the cellulose-containing spore wall
is unknown. To identify cis-acting elements in the celB
promoter, unidirectional 5
deletions of the celB upstream
noncoding region were constructed and used to transform amoebae.
Analysis of promoter activity during different stages of development
shows that a short, very A/T-rich sequence of approximately 81 base
pairs is sufficient for spore-specific celB transcription.
Contained in this sequence is the Myb oncogene protein binding site,
TAACTG, which was shown previously to be a negative regulator of
celA transcription. Dictyostelium and mouse Myb
proteins bind to this region of the promoter, suggesting that Myb might
regulate celB gene expression negatively as it does in
celA.