Pancreatic beta cell-surface expression of glucose transporter 2 (Glut-2) is essential for glucose-stimulated insulin secretion, thereby controlling blood glucose homeostasis in response to dietary intake. We show that the murine GlcNAcT-IVa glycosyltransferase is required for Glut-2 residency on the beta cell surface by constructing a cell-type- and glycoprotein-specific N-glycan ligand for pancreatic lectin receptors. Loss of GlcNAcT-IVa, or the addition of glycan-ligand mimetics, attenuates Glut-2 cell-surface half-life, provoking endocytosis with redistribution into endosomes and lysosomes. The ensuing impairment of glucose-stimulated insulin secretion leads to metabolic dysfunction diagnostic of type 2 diabetes. Remarkably, the induction of diabetes by chronic ingestion of a high-fat diet is associated with reduced GlcNAcT-IV expression and attenuated Glut-2 glycosylation coincident with Glut-2 endocytosis. We infer that beta cell glucose-transporter glycosylation mediates a link between diet and insulin production that typically suppresses the pathogenesis of type 2 diabetes.

To investigate the regulatory processes involved in the expression of the D2 dopamine receptor gene, a rat genomic clone was isolated using a 21-mer oligonucleotide probe made of exon 1 sequences. A 1.3-kb region including all of exon 1, its 5'-flanking region, and part of intron 1 was sequenced. S1 nuclease analysis indicated three consecutive nucleotides as the main transcription start sites; several weaker sites were also noted between 321 and 363 nucleotides upstream from the 3' end of exon 1. The promoter region lacks TATA and CAAT boxes and is rich in G+C content with several putative Sp1 binding sites. Transient expression assays using chimeric constructs of D2 promoter deletion mutants-chloramphenicol acetyl-transferase gene in the neuroblastoma cell line NB41A3 which expresses D2 binding sites indicated strong transcription enhancing activity between nucleotides -75 and -30 and silencing activity between nucleotides -217 and -76. DNase I footprinting studies using nuclear extract from NB41A3 suggested Sp1 binding to its consensus sequence at nucleotide -48 but inhibition of Sp1 binding at nucleotide -86 by the extract. The D2 promoter could not induce transcription of the heterologous CAT gene in C6 glioma, embryonal NIH 3T3, or hepatic Hep G2 cells. It is concluded that the rat D2 gene shares with the human D1A dopamine receptor gene several features typical of "housekeeping" genes but they are both tissue-specific, regulated genes. Unlike the D1A gene, however, the D2 gene has a strong preference for transcription initiation to three consecutive nucleotides.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

To study how the expression of the D1A dopamine receptor gene is regulated, a human genomic done was isolated by using a rat cDNA as probe. A 2.3-kiobase genomic fragment spanning -2571 through -236 relative to the adenosine ofthe first methionine codon was sequenced. The gene has an intron of 116 base pairs in the 5' noncoding region, nucleotides -599 through -484 as determined by S1 mapping and reverse transcription-PCR. It has multiple transcription initiation sites located between -1061 and -1040. The promoter region lacks a TATA box and a CAAT box, is rich in G+C content, and has multiple putative binding sites for transcription factor Spl. Thus, the promoter region of the human D1A gene has features of "housekeeping" genes. However, it also has consensus sequences for APi and AP2 binding sites and a putative cAMP response element. The ability of four deletion mutants of the 2.3-kilobase fragment to modulate transcription of the heterologous chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene in the promoterless plasmid pCAT-Basic was determined. AU mutants demonstrated substantial transcriptional activity in the murine neuroblastoma cell line NS20Y, which expresses the DIA gene endogenously. Transient expression assays suggested the presence of a positive modulator between nucleotides -1340 and -1102, and a negative modulator between -1730 and -1341. The four genomic fragments had no or very low transcriptional activity in NB41A3, C6, and Hep G2 cells, which are not known to express this gene. Thus, the human DIA gene belongs to the category of tissue-specific, regulated genes that have housekeeping-type promoters. Dopaminergic transmission plays a central role in the generation of coordinated motor function, neuroendocrine modulation, and perhaps behavior and' cognition (1). The biochemical and cellular effects of dopamine are mediated through its cell surface receptors, which belong to a large superfamily of receptors coupled to guanine nucleotide-binding proteins (2

The coupling between the dopamine1 (DA1) receptor and the G protein/adenylyl cyclase (AC) enzyme complex is defective in the proximal convoluted tubule (PCT) of 20-wk-old spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHRs). Because this coupling defect could have been due to desensitization secondary to elevated renal dopamine levels in the adult animal, we studied the interaction between DA1 receptors and AC in PCT of rats as early as 3 wk of age, a time when renal dopamine levels are similar in SHRs and their normotensive controls (Wistar-Kyoto rats, WKYs). Maximum receptor density did not change with age and was similar in WKYs and SHRs in all the age groups studied (3, 8, and 20 wk). Basal-, forskolin-, and guanyl nucleotide-stimulated AC activities were also similar in WKYs and SHRs and did not change with age. However, the DA1 agonist-stimulated AC activity was greater in WKYs than in SHRs and increased with age in WKYs but not in SHRs. Moreover, the ability of a nonhydrolyzable analogue of GTP, Gpp(NH)p, to enhance DA1 agonist (SND-919-C12, 1 microM)-stimulated AC activity increased with age in WKY but not in SHRs. To determine if the defect noted in the PCT of SHRs is due to a defective D1A receptor gene, parallel studies were performed in the striatum, since this receptor is expressed predominantly in the latter tissue. In contrast to the results in PCT, radioligand binding and AC studies in striatum revealed no differences between WKYs and SHRs.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)