The microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP), which catalyses the transport of triglyceride, cholesteryl ester and phospholipid between phospholipid surfaces, is a heterodimer composed of the multifunctional protein, protein disulphide isomerase, and a unique large subunit with an apparent M(r) of 88K (refs 1-3). It is isolated as a soluble protein from the lumen of the microsomal fraction of liver and intestine. The large subunit of MTP was not detectable in four unrelated subjects with abetalipoproteinaemia, a rare autosomal recessive disease characterized by a defect in the assembly or secretion of plasma lipoproteins that contain apolipoprotein B (ref. 6). We report here the isolation and sequencing of complementary DNA encoding the large subunit of MTP. A comparison of this sequence to corresponding genomic sequences from two abetalipoproteinaemic subjects revealed a homozygous frameshift mutation in one subject and a homozygous nonsense mutation in the other. The results indicate that a defect in the gene for the large subunit of MTP is the proximal cause of abetalipoproteinaemia in these two subjects, and that MTP is required for the secretion of plasma lipoproteins that contain apolipoprotein B.

Cultured Sertoli cells prepared from young rats (13 days old) showed increased incorporation of [3H]thymidine into DNA, increased production of lactate, and increased incorporation of [3H]leucine into protein in response to micromolar concentrations of insulin and nanomolar concentrations of insulin-like growth factor II (IGF-II). The first of these responses was also seen with nanomolar concentrations of IGF-I. Receptor affinity labeling studies using Sertoli cell membranes and whole Sertoli cells showed that these cells possess abundant growth factor receptors of type I (mol wt, 350,000) that show high affinity for IGF-I, moderate affinity for IGF-II, and low affinity for insulin. Sertoli cell membranes also show abundant growth factor receptors of type II (mol wt, 230,000) that show high affinity for IGF-II, moderate affinity for IGF-I, and no detectable affinity for insulin. Moreover, the responses of the Sertoli cell to insulin were observed at concentrations of 100 nM or higher, whereas insulin receptors are known to be saturated by insulin at concentrations of 10 nM or less. It is, therefore, concluded that Sertoli cells possess receptors for IGF-I and that the responses observed to insulin may result from binding of these hormones to receptors for IGF-I.

The microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) is a heterodimer composed of the multifunctional enzyme, protein disulfide-isomerase, and a unique large, 97 kDa, subunit. It is found as a soluble protein within the lumen of the endoplasmic reticulum of liver and intestine and is required for the assembly of very low density lipoproteins and chylomicrons. Mutations in MTP which result in an absence of MTP function have been shown to cause abetalipoproteinemia. Here, the gene encoding the MTP 97-kDa subunit of an abetalipoproteinemic subject, which we have previously demonstrated lacks MTP activity and protein (Wetterau, J. R., Aggerbeck, L. P., Bouma, M.-E., Eisenberg, C., Munck, A., Hermier, M., Schmitz, J., Gay, G., Rader, D. J., and Gregg, R. E. (1992) Science 258, 999-1001), was isolated and sequenced. A nonsense mutation, which predicts the truncation of the protein by 30 amino acids, was identified. To investigate if this apparently subtle change in MTP could explain the observed absence of MTP, protein disulfide-isomerase was co-expressed with either the normal or mutant MTP 97-kDa subunit in Sf9 insect cells using a baculovirus expression system. Although there were high levels of expression of both the normal and mutant forms of the MTP 97-kDa subunit, only the normal subunit was able to form a stable, soluble complex with protein disulfide-isomerase. These results indicate that the carboxyl-terminal 30 amino acids of the MTP 97-kDa subunit plays an important role in its interaction with protein disulfide-isomerase.

The microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP) is a heterodimer composed of the ubiquitous multifunctional protein, protein disulfide isomerase, and a unique 97-kDa subunit. Mutations that lead to the absence of a functional 97-kDa subunit cause abetalipoproteinemia, an autosomal recessive disease characterized by a defect in the assembly and secretion of apolipoprotein B (apoB) containing lipoproteins. Previous studies of abetalipoproteinemic patient, C.L., showed that the 97-kDa subunit was undetectable. In this report, [35 S]methionine labeling showed that this tissue was capable of synthesizing the 97-kDa MTP subunit. Electrophoretic analysis showed two bands, one with a molecular mass of the wild type 97-kDa subunit and the other with a slightly lower molecular weight. Sequence analysis of cDNAs from additional intestinal biopsies showed this patient to be a compound heterozygote. One allele contained a perfect in-frame deletion of exon 10, explaining the lower molecular weight band. cDNAs of the second allele were found to contain 3 missense mutations: His 297 3 Gln, Asp 384 3 Ala, and Arg 540 3 His. Transient expression of each mutant showed that only the Arg 540 3 His mutant was non-functional based upon its inability to reconstitute apoB secretion in a cell culture system. The other amino acid changes are silent polymorphisms. High level coexpression in a baculovirus system of the wild type 97-kDa subunit or the Arg 540 3 His mutant along with human protein disulfide isomerase showed that the wild type was capable of forming an active MTP complex while the mutant was not. Biochemical analysis of lysates from these cells showed that the Arg to His conversion interrupted the interaction between the 97-kDa subunit and protein disulfide isomerase. Replacement of Arg 540 with a lysine residue maintained the ability of the 97-kDa subunit to complex with protein disulfide isomerase and form the active MTP holoprotein. These results indicate that a positively charged amino acid at position 540 in the 97-kDa subunit is critical for the productive association with protein disulfide isomerase. Of the 13 mutant MTP 97-kDa subunit alleles described to date, this is the first encoding a missense mutation. The microsomal triglyceride transfer protein (MTP)1 is an endoplasmic reticulum resident protein that catalyzes the transfer of lipids between phospholipid surfaces. Although MTP can transfer most classes of lipids, it shows a distinct preference for triglyceride and cholesteryl esters. MTP is a heterodimer composed of the multifunctional protein, protein disulfide isomerase (PDI) and a unique large subunit of 97 kDa (1). PDI is a ubiquitous protein found at high levels in many different tissues (2). The 97-kDa subunit of MTP is expressed primarily in hepatocytes and intestinal enterocytes (3). Thus, the active MTP complex is found predominantly in the liver and small intestine. The subcellular localization, tissue distribution, and activity of MTP all suggest a role for this protein in the assembly and secretio...

A method is reported for sequencing DNA based on exonuclease III digestion and strand protection by using modified nucleoside triphosphates. Up to 10 kilobases of sequence information may be obtained from each strand of a given template without subcloning. Prior knowledge of the restriction map is not important; prior knowledge of any of the sequence is not required. Nor are oligonucleotide primers needed. Double-stranded cosmids, plasmids, A phage, or linear molecules (including amplified molecules) may be used as starting material. The method creates a single-stranded template from these starting molecules, thus generating highquality sequence ladders. Most commonly used DNA polymerases may be utilized, including reverse transcriptase and T7 DNA polymerase. The approach is "ordered", so little time is wasted on redundant sequencing. nucleoside triphosphate and a modified nucleotide, such as 5-methyldeoxycytidine triphosphate (5-Me-dCTP). The DNA is digested with a frequently cutting restriction enzyme that cannot digest the DNA that has incorporated the modified nucleotide. Thus, the labeled strands are all truncated at a fixed location, producing fragments that yield sequence information by electrophoresis (Fig. 1).The method greatly extends the amount of sequence information that can be obtained from one template, thus substantially reducing the number of templates needed to sequence a given nucleic acid segment. Moreover, the sequence information can be obtained from many regions of the template in parallel. Lastly, the sequence information obtained simultaneously from many regions is "ordered" rather than "shotgun", thus allowing one to return directly to uninformative regions for further clarification. The sequencing of nucleic acids can be divided into three main tasks: generation of templates, enzymatic/chemical reactions, and identification of nucleic acid fragments that have been separated according to their length. The identification step has been automated (1, 2). The process of automating the enzymatic/chemical reaction step has begun (3, 4). However, the generation of templates currently requires numerous steps that are difficult to automate, including restriction mapping, preparing subfragments for subcloning, identifying subclones, growing bacterial cultures, and purifying nucleic acids. Such template generation steps account for >80% of the effort expended in the sequencing of nucleic acids. Unfortunately, current sequencing paradigms require the generation of a new template for each 300-500 nucleotides (nt) sequenced. Under the assumption of no overlapping sequence between templates, the sequencing of both strands of an entire mammalian genome would require at least 20 million templates 300 nt each in length. A nonordered approach, such as shotgun sequencing (5), would require the generation of 100-200 million templates.We have developed a procedure that circumvents the need for primer-binding sites and also eliminates the need to know the restriction map (Fig. 1). We call this procedu...