Expression and evolution of the mammalian brain gene Ttyh1

Abstract

Homologues of the Drosophila melanogaster tweety (tty) gene are present in mammals and Caenorhabditis elegans. The encoded proteins have five predicted membrane-spanning regions and recent findings suggest that some family members may be chloride channels. Phylogenetic analysis of the tty family including novel members from slime mould Entamoeba and plants has revealed the occurrence of independent gene duplication events in different lineages. expressed sequence tag data indicate that expression of the mammalian Ttyh1 gene is restricted mainly to neural tissue and is up-regulated in astrocytoma, glioma and several other cancers. In this study, mammalian expression vectors were used to investigate the subcellular localization and the effect of over-expression of Ttyh1 in human epithelial kidney cells. The results confirm that Ttyh1 is a membrane protein and show that it is deposited on the substratum along the migration paths of motile cells above the a5b1-integrin complex. The ectopic expression of Ttyh1 also induced long filopodia, which were branched and dynamic in both stationary and migratory cells. The filopodia contained F-actin and occurred at the ends of microtubules which were polarized towards the membrane. Upon contact with nearby cells some filopodia stabilized and filled with F-actin, whereas Ttyh1 was highly concentrated at the cell-cell interface. Ttyh1 N-and C-terminal antipeptide antibodies detected Ttyh1 along the axons of neurones in primary rat hippocampal cell cultures, and in situ in whole rat brain slices around the hippocampus and occasionally between cells. These data suggest a role for Ttyh1 in process formation, cell adhesion and possibly as a transmembrane receptor.

Expression of three distinct families of calcium-activated chloride channel genes in the mouse dorsal root ganglion

“…Expression of hTTYH3 in CHO cells generated a unique Clcurrent activated by an increase in the intracellular Ca 2+ concentration. Overexpression of Tthy1 shows that it is a membrane protein [18] . Using constructs for overexpression of Httyh-1, -2 and-3 in CHO and HEK cell lines [23,24] , Suzuki et al suggested that hTTYH1 activation is calcium-independent but that of hTTYH2 and hTTHY3 are strongly calcium-dependent.…”

Ventral Mesencephalon-Enriched Genes That Regulate the Development of Dopaminergic NeuronsIn Vivo

“…3), and recent reports indicate a similar role in cortical neuroepithelial cells and radial precursor cells (Arai et al, 2005;Barry and McDermott, 2005). A role for Ttyh1 in cell adhesion and possibly as a transmembrane receptor in astrocytoma has also been suggested (Matthews et al, 2007). Similarly, Hmgb2, Id3, and cell cycle-related genes may play important roles in the proliferation of mDA neuron precursors but in a manner distinct from Fabp7.…”

Ttyh1 Protein is Expressed in Glia In Vitro and Shows Elevated Expression in Activated Astrocytes Following Status Epilepticus

“…The expression of Ttyh1 mRNA is restricted to neural tissue and the testis [8]. In the brain, Ttyh1 mRNA has been detected in neurons [9, 10].…”

“…In the brain, Ttyh1 mRNA has been detected in neurons [9, 10]. The expression of Ttyh1 protein is also neuronal and has been detected in neurons in vivo and in vitro [6, 8, 11]. The overexpression of Ttyh1 protein in cell lines and neurons in vitro leads to excessive filopodia formation [8, 11].…”