The kidney has an important role in the regulation of acid-base homeostasis. Renal ammonium production and excretion are essential for net acid excretion under basal conditions and during metabolic acidosis. Ammonium is secreted into the urine by the collecting duct, a distal nephron segment where ammonium transport is believed to occur by non-ionic NH(3) diffusion coupled to H(+) secretion. Here we show that this process is largely dependent on the Rhesus factor Rhcg. Mice lacking Rhcg have abnormal urinary acidification due to impaired ammonium excretion on acid loading-a feature of distal renal tubular acidosis. In vitro microperfused collecting ducts of Rhcg(-/-) acid-loaded mice show reduced apical permeability to NH(3) and impaired transepithelial NH(3) transport. Furthermore, Rhcg is localized in epididymal epithelial cells and is required for normal fertility and epididymal fluid pH. We anticipate a critical role for Rhcg in ammonium handling and pH homeostasis both in the kidney and the male reproductive tract.

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Cyprinid herpesvirus 3 (CyHV-3), a member of the family Alloherpesviridae, is the causative agent of a lethal disease in common and koi carp. CyHV-3 ORF134 encodes an interleukin-10 (IL-10) homologue. The present study was devoted to this ORF. Transcriptomic analyses revealed that ORF134 is expressed as a spliced gene belonging to the early-late class. Proteomic analyses of CyHV-3 infected cell supernatant demonstrated that the ORF134 expression product is one of the most abundant proteins of the CyHV-3 secretome. To investigate the role of ORF134 in viral replication in vitro and in virulence in vivo, a deleted strain and a derived revertant strain were produced using BAC cloning technologies. The recombinant ORF134 deleted strain replicated in vitro comparably to the parental and the revertant strains. Infection of fish by immersion in water containing the virus induced comparable CyHV-3 disease for the three virus genotypes tested (wild type, deleted and revertant). Quantification of viral DNA by real time TaqMan PCR (in the gills and the kidney) and analysis of carp cytokine expression (in the spleen) by RT-qPCR at different times post-infection did not revealed any significant difference between the groups of fish infected with the three virus genotypes. Similarly, histological examination of the gills and the kidney of infected fish revealed no significant differences between fish infected with ORF134 deleted virus versus fish infected with the control parental or revertant strains. All together, the results of the present study demonstrate that the IL-10 homologue encoded by CyHV-3 is essential neither for viral replication in vitro nor for virulence in common carp.

In this study we have characterized a positive regulatory region located in the first intron of the alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) gene. We show that the enhancer activity of the region depends on a 44 bp sequence centered on a CACCC motif. The sequence is the target of the two zinc fingers transcription factors BKLF and YY1. The introduction of a mutation destroying the CACCC box impairs the binding of BKLF but improves that of YY1. Moreover, the mutated sequence behaves as a negative control element, suggesting that BKLF behaves as a positive factor and that YY1 is a negative one. We also demonstrate the existence of a novel, tissue-specific AFP mRNA isoform present in the yolk sac and fetal liver which initiates from an alternative promoter located approximately 100 bp downstream of the enhancer element. The transcriptional start site controlled by this new promoter (called P2), was mapped to 66 bp downstream of a TATA box. A putative AUG translation site in-frame with exon 2 of the classical gene was found 295 bp downstream of the transcription start site. Like the traditional AFP promoter (P1), the P2 promoter is active in the yolk sac and fetal liver. Embryonic stem cells with an AFP knock-in gene containing either the P2 promoter or deleted for it were isolated and comparative analysis of embryonic bodies derived from these cells suggests that the P2 promoter contributes to early expression of the AFP gene.