Imprinting of the Murine Mas Protooncogene Is Restricted to Its Antisense RNA

Mas and Its Related G Protein–Coupled Receptors, Mrgprs

“…Imprinting of the maternally expressed Igf2r gene is controlled by an intronic imprint control element that contains the promoter of the long noncoding RNA, Airn (antisense Igf2r RNA noncoding), which overlaps the silenced paternal Igf2r promoter and partially the Mas gene in an antisense orientation (Wutz et al, 1997;Lyle et al, 2000). However, our work with Mas-deficient mice clearly demonstrated that Mas is biallelically expressed (Alenina et al, 2002a). Thus, because of the lack of strand selectivity in the reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction assays used by Villar and Pedersen (1994) and Miller et al (1997), the maternally imprinted RNA detected by them was most probably not the coding mRNA but the antisense RNA of the Mas gene as part of Airn.…”

G-Protein–Coupled Receptor Mas Is a Physiological Antagonist of the Angiotensin II Type 1 Receptor

“…1 In mammals, the gene is expressed predominantly in testis and distinct areas of forebrain, including hippocampus and amygdala, and less strongly but at detectable levels in kidney and heart. 2,3 It encodes a protein with 7 transmembrane domains that contain features characteristic of class I G-proteincoupled receptors (GPCRs), and in early studies, it was suggested to be a receptor for the octapeptide angiotensin II (Ang II), the main effector peptide of the renin-angiotensin system. 4 However, Ambroz et al 5 and Ardaillou 6 later showed that Ang II-induced elevation of intracellular Ca 2ϩ in Mastransfected cells was only observed in cells that endogenously expressed the Ang II type 1 (AT 1 ) receptor, one of the 2 receptors now known to represent the natural targets for Ang II.…”

Multiple non-coding exons and alternative splicing in the mouse Mas protooncogene

“…Furthermore, maternally imprinted antisense RNA (AS RNA) was described that starts in the neighboring Igf 2r gene and overlaps the Mas coding region (Wutz et al, 1997;Lyle et al, 2000;Latos et al, 2012). Although imprinting of Mas itself has been postulated by using RT-PCR (Villar and Pedersen, 1994), we and others could show that not Mas, but exclusively its AS RNA, is maternally imprinted in both embryos and adult organs (Lyle et al, 2000;Alenina et al, 2002a).…”

“…Plasmids were linearized with the appropriate enzymes, gel purified and used for in vitro transcription (Promega). The labeled antisense RNA probe was synthesized by 5U of T7, T3, or SP6 RNA polymerase as described (Alenina et al, 2002a). Fifty micrograms of total RNA of the testis and forebrain, and 2 μg of yeast RNA (Y) as a negative control were hybridized with 20,000 cpm of the radio labeled Mas-specific probes.…”

“…We and others identified the Mas gene to be expressed predominantly in the testis and distinct areas of the forebrain like hippocampus and amygdala (Bunnemann et al, 1990;Martin et al, 1992;Alenina et al, 2002b) and less strongly, but detectable in the kidney and heart (Villar and Pedersen, 1994;Metzger et al, 1995;Alenina et al, 2002a). The Mas-coding region was isolated and sequenced for human (Young et al, 1986), rat (Young et al, 1988), and mouse (Metzger et al, 1995).…”