The regulation of the expression of beta-adrenoceptor (beta-ARs) is not thoroughly understood. We demonstrate that the rat heart cell-line H9c2 expresses both beta 1- and beta 2-ARs. In radioligand-binding experiments, the maximal binding capacity of (-)-[125I]-iodocyanopindolol was determined as 18 +/- 0.6 fmol/mg of protein with a KD of 35.4 +/- 4.1 pM. Competitive radioligand-binding experiments with subtype-specific beta-antagonists reveal a subtype ratio of beta 1- to beta 2-ARs of 29%: 71%. With competitive reverse-transcriptase PCR we found beta 2-mRNA to be up to 1600 times more frequent than beta 1-mRNA. Treatment of the H9c2 cell-line with the beta-adrenergic agonist (-)-isoproterenol (10(-6) M), the antagonist (-)-propranolol (10(-6) M) and the glucocorticoid dexamethasone (500 nM) induces regulatory effects on both the beta-AR protein and mRNA level. Isoproterenol treatment leads to down-regulation of the total receptor number by 56 +/- 4%, due to a decrease in beta 2-ARs, while maintaining the beta 1-AR number constant. On the transcription level, both beta 1-and beta 2-mRNAs are decreased by 30% and 42% respectively. mRNA stability measurements reveal a reduced half-life of beta 2-mRNA from 9.3 h to 6.5 h after isoproterenol treatment. Incubation of cells with (-)-propranolol does not affect the amounts of beta-ARs and their mRNAs. Dexamethasone induces a 1.8 +/- 0.2-fold increase in beta-AR number over the basal level as well as a 1.9 +/- 0.2-fold increase in the amount of beta 2-mRNA. Because the half-life of beta 2-mRNA was unaffected by dexamethasone, the increased beta 2-mRNA level must be due to an enhanced transcription rate. The beta 1-mRNA levels are unchanged during dexamethasone-incubation of the cells. Our data clearly demonstrate that treatment of H9c2 rat heart cells with isoproterenol and dexamethasone induces alterations in the level of RNA stability as well as gene transcription, leading to altered receptor numbers.

The biosynthetic gene cluster of the aminocoumarin antibiotic novobiocin comprises 20 coding sequences. Sixteen of them code for essential enzymes for novobiocin formation, transcribed in the form of a single 18-kb polycistronic mRNA. In the present study, we replaced the genuine promoter of this operon by the tetracycline-inducible promoter tcp830 and at the same time deleting the two pathway-specific positive regulator genes of novobiocin biosynthesis. The heterologous producer Streptomyces coelicolor M512 harboring the modified gene cluster produced, upon addition of 2 mg L(-1) of the inducer compound anhydrotetracyline, 3.4-fold more novobiocin than strains carrying the unmodified cluster. A second tcp830 promoter was inserted in the middle of the 18-kb operon in order to ensure adequate transcription of the rearmost genes. However, this did not lead to a further increase of novobiocin formation, showing that a single tcp830 promoter was sufficient to achieve high transcription of all 16 genes of the operon. A high induction of novobiocin formation was achieved within a wide range of anhydrotetracyline concentrations (0.25-2.0 mg L(-1)). Growth of the strains was not affected by these concentrations. The inducer compound could be added either at the time of inoculation or at any other time up to mid-growth phase, always achieving a similar final antibiotic production. Therefore, the tcp830 promoter presents a robust, easy-to-use system for the inducible expression of biosynthetic gene clusters in heterologous hosts, independent from the genuine regulatory network.

The aminocoumarin antibiotic novobiocin is a gyrase inhibitor formed by a Streptomyces strain. The biosynthetic gene cluster of novobiocin spans 23.4 kb and contains 20 coding sequences, among them the two regulatory genes novE and novG. We investigated the location of transcriptional promoters within this cluster by insertion of transcriptional terminator cassettes and RT-PCR analysis of the resulting mutants. The cluster was found to contain eight DNA regions with promoter activity. The regulatory protein NovG binds to a previously identified binding site within the promoter region located upstream of novH, but apparently not to any of the other seven promoters. Quantitative real-time PCR was used to compare the number of transcripts in a strain carrying an intact novobiocin cluster with strains carrying mutated clusters. Both in-frame deletion of the regulatory gene novG and insertion of a terminator cassette into the biosynthetic gene novH led to a strong reduction of the number of transcripts of the genes located between novH and novW. This suggested that these 16 biosynthetic genes form a single operon. Three internal promoters are located within this operon but appear to be of minor importance, if any, under our experimental conditions. Transcription of novG was found to depend on the presence of NovE, suggesting that the two regulatory genes, novE and novG, act in a cascade-like mechanism. The resistance gene gyrB R , encoding an aminocoumarin-resistant gyrase B subunit, may initially be co-transcribed with the genes from novH to novW. However, when the gyrase inhibitor novobiocin accumulates in the cultures, gyrB R is transcribed from its own promoter. Previous work has suggested that this promoter is controlled by the superhelical density of chromosomal DNA.

The biosynthetic gene cluster of the aminocoumarin antibiotic novobiocin contains two putative regulatory genes, i.e., novE and novG. Functional proof for the role of NovG as a positive regulator of novobiocin biosynthesis had been provided previously, and we now investigated the role of novE. Heterologous expression experiments with the novobiocin biosynthetic gene cluster showed that the entire putative promoter region of novE is required to achieve optimal novobiocin production. Overexpression of novE, using a replicative vector, resulted in an increase of novobiocin formation. In contrast, inactivation of novE by in frame deletion resulted in a strong reduction of novobiocin biosynthesis. Novobiocin production could be restored by an intact copy of novE, but also by the regulatory gene novG. These observations suggest that novE is a positive regulator of novobiocin biosynthesis. NovE was expressed in E. coli and purified. However, in contrast to parallel experiments with NovG, no DNA-binding properties could be shown for NovE. RT-PCR experiments showed that expression of novG was detectable in the absence of NovE, and also that expression of novE occurred in absence of NovG.

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