We characterized an activation mechanism of the human LTRPC2 protein, a member of the transient receptor potential family of ion channels, and demonstrated that LTRPC2 mediates Ca2+ influx into immunocytes. Intracellular pyrimidine nucleotides, adenosine 5'-diphosphoribose (ADPR), and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD), directly activated LTRPC2, which functioned as a Ca2+-permeable nonselective cation channel and enabled Ca2+ influx into cells. This activation was suppressed by intracellular adenosine triphosphate. These results reveal that ADPR and NAD act as intracellular messengers and may have an important role in Ca2+ influx by activating LTRPC2 in immunocytes.

The regulation of splice site usage provides a versatile mechanism for controlling gene expression and for the generation of proteome diversity, playing an essential role in many biological processes. The importance of alternative splicing is further illustrated by the increasing number of human diseases that have been attributed to mis-splicing events. Appropriate spatial and temporal generation of splicing variants demands that alternative splicing be subjected to extensive regulation, similar to transcriptional control. The Clk (Cdc2-like kinase) family has been implicated in splicing control and consists of at least four members. Through extensive screening of a chemical library, we found that a benzothiazole compound, TG003, had a potent inhibitory effect on the activity of Clk1/Sty. TG003 inhibited SF2/ASFdependent splicing of ␤-globin pre-mRNA in vitro by suppression of Clk-mediated phosphorylation. This drug also suppressed serine/arginine-rich protein phosphorylation, dissociation of nuclear speckles, and Clk1/ Sty-dependent alternative splicing in mammalian cells. Consistently, administration of TG003 rescued the embryonic defects induced by excessive Clk activity in Xenopus. Thus, TG003, a novel inhibitor of Clk family will be a valuable tool to dissect the regulatory mechanisms involving serine/arginine-rich protein phosphorylation signaling pathways in vivo, and may be applicable for the therapeutic manipulation of abnormal splicing.Recent whole genome sequence analyses revealed that a high degree of proteomic complexity is achieved with a limited number of genes. This surprising finding underscores the importance of alternative splicing, through which a single gene can generate multiple structurally and functionally distinct protein isoforms (1). Based on genome-wide analysis, 35-60% of human genes are thought to encode at least two alternatively spliced isoforms (2). The regulation of splice site usage provides a versatile mechanism for controlling gene expression and for the generation of proteome diversity, playing essential roles in many biological processes, such as embryonic development, cell growth, and apoptosis. Splicing mutations located in either intronic or exonic regions frequently cause hereditary diseases (reviewed in Refs. 3-5). More than 15% of mutations that cause genetic disease affect pre-mRNA splicing (6). Pre-mRNA splicing is also regulated in a tissue-specific or developmental stagespecific manner. Indeed, the selection of splice site can be altered by numerous extracellular stimuli, including growth factors, cytokines, hormones, depolarization, osmotic shock, and UVC irradiation through synthesis, phosphorylation, and a change in localization of serine/arginine-rich (SR) 1 proteins (7). SR proteins are a family of essential factors required for constitutive splicing of pre-mRNA (8) and play an important role in modulating alternative splicing (9). They are highly conserved in eukaryotes and are characterized by having one or two RNA-recognition motifs at the amino terminus a...

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Prokineticins, multifunctional secreted proteins, activate two endogenous G protein-coupled receptors PKR1 and PKR2. From in situ analysis of the mouse brain, we discovered that PKR2 is predominantly expressed in the olfactory bulb (OB). To examine the role of PKR2 in the OB, we created PKR1-and PKR2-gene-disrupted mice (Pkr1 ؊/؊ and Pkr2 ؊/؊ , respectively). Phenotypic analysis indicated that not Pkr1 ؊/؊ but Pkr2 ؊/؊ mice exhibited hypoplasia of the OB. This abnormality was observed in the early developmental stages of fetal OB in the Pkr2 ؊/؊ mice. In addition, the Pkr2 ؊/؊ mice showed severe atrophy of the reproductive system, including the testis, ovary, uterus, vagina, and mammary gland. In the Pkr2 ؊/؊ mice, the plasma levels of testosterone and follicle-stimulating hormone were decreased, and the mRNA transcription levels of gonadotropin-releasing hormone in the hypothalamus and luteinizing hormone and follicle-stimulating hormone in the pituitary were also significantly reduced. Immunohistochemical analysis revealed that gonadotropin-releasing hormone neurons were absent in the hypothalamus in the Pkr2 ؊/؊ mice. The phenotype of the Pkr2 ؊/؊ mice showed similarity to the clinical features of Kallmann syndrome, a human disease characterized by association of hypogonadotropic hypogonadism and anosmia. Our current findings demonstrated that physiological activation of PKR2 is essential for normal development of the OB and sexual maturation.

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