The nuclear protein factors which stimulate synthesis of mRNA of interleukin-2 (IL-2) in the system of surviving murine T lymphocytes are isolated from cells of the spleen and brain of immunized rats. The active fractions of spleen and brain (13-19 and 25 kD, respectively), which interact with the promoter-enhancer sequences of the IL-2 gene localized in the region from +39 to -141 base pairs, are isolated by the method of high performance liquid chromatography from the total nuclear extract. The induction of luciferase synthesis is shown for protein factor-treated Jurkat cells transformed with p-IL-2LUC recombinant plasmid.
Key Words: interleukin-2 gene; protein factors; regulationRegulation of the expression of individual genes with transacting factors is an issue at the forefront of molecular biology. This problem involves both an understanding of the nature of these factors and identification of the regulatory sequences of DNA, which are the binding sites of the factors per se. Another aspect concems the mechanisms of competition between transacting proteins and histones for DNA binding sites, which cause a rearrangement of the nucleosomal structure of chromatin of the controlled gene and activation of its transcription [2]. A typical example of an inducible gene is the interleukin-2 (IL-2) gene. It is well known that expression of this lymphokine is a crucial factor in the functions of the immune system and affecting its expression have been identified [6]. However, the factors themselves have not been studied in depth, and little is known about their total amount, hierarchy, and universality. In our previous study [3] protein factors which differ considerably from earlier known factors with respect to molecular weight were isolated from cell nuclei of the spleen and brain of immunized rats. These nuclear proteins form stable specific complexes with the regulatory sequences of the IL-2 gene and stimulate the production of an IL-2-like factor in the system of surviving murine splenic lymphocytes.In the present study we further analyzed the effect of protein factors on the production of IL-2 mRNA in the model system and on the expression of the luciferase (LUC) marker gene under the promoter of the IL-2 gene in order to verify the presence of regulatory proteins common to the nervous and immune systems which act at the gene level. In this study we also identified the region of the
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