Estrogen-mediated induction of a vitellogenin-specific nonhistone chromatin protein in the male chicken liver

Abstract

Non-histone chromatin proteins prepared from the livers of estrogen-treated and nontreated male chickens were compared by reverse-phase high performance liquid chromatography (RP-HPLC), followed by sodium dodecyl-sulfate-polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE). The results revealed that the hormone-treated male liver chromatin contained a specific protein corresponding to the vitellogenin-specific protein previously purified from the liver of egg-laying hens (Nakayama 1985). The chicken protein, purified further by gel-filtration high performance liquid chromatography (GF-HPLC), showed specific binding activity to DNA fragments carrying a part of the vitellogenin gene. On the basis of similarities in the elution patterns from GF-HPLC and RP-HPLC as well as in the mobility on SDS-PAGE, we concluded that this hormone-induced protein in the male chicken liver was identical to the vitellogenin-specific protein identified in the hen liver, and assumed it to be a specific regulatory protein for the vitellogenin gene expression. The amino acid composition of this chicken protein has been determined.

Genetic basis for coordination of meiosis and sexual structure maturation in Cryptococcus neoformans

“…Csa2 governs basidium formation in C. neoformans ( Figures 2A and 5D ). In contrast, Mei2 appears not to be required for the formation of ascus ( Nakayama et al, 1985 ), which is the sexual structure of S. pombe analogous to basidium in C. neoformans , suggesting a divergent evolution. Consistently, accumulating studies on Mei2-like proteins in plants have demonstrated that their functions are not limited to meiosis but also associated with other biological processes, such as leaf development and vegetative growth ( Kaur et al, 2006 ; Kawakatsu et al, 2006 ).…”

Vitellogenin‐specific Non‐histone Chromatin Protein

“…Furthermore, it was expected to be induced by estrogen before, or in parallel with vitellogenin synthesis in the liver of male chickens, in which vitellogenin is not usually synthesized, because the liver begins to synthesize large amounts of mRNA for the protein in the presence of estrogen (12, 24). Therefore, we examined whether the vite1Iogenin-specific protein was present in the chromatin of estrogen-treated male chicken liver (25,26).…”