The Upstream 1350~1250 Nucleotide Sequences of the Human <i>ENDOU-1</i> Gene Contain Critical <i>Cis</i>-Elements Responsible for Upregulating Its Transcription during ER Stress

oleh: Hung-Chieh Lee, Hsuan-Te Chao, Selina Yi-Hsuan Lee, Cheng-Yung Lin, Huai-Jen Tsai

Format: Article
Diterbitkan: MDPI AG 2023-12-01

Deskripsi

<i>ENDOU-1</i> encodes an endoribonuclease that overcomes the inhibitory upstream open reading frame (uORF)-trap at 5′-untranslated region (UTR) of the <i>CHOP</i> transcript, allowing the downstream coding sequence of <i>CHOP</i> be translated during endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress. However, transcriptional control of <i>ENDOU-1</i> remains enigmatic. To address this, we cloned an upstream 2.1 kb (−2055~+77 bp) of human <i>ENDOU-1</i> (pE2.1p) fused with reporter luciferase (luc) cDNA. The promoter strength driven by pE2.1p was significantly upregulated in both pE2.1p-transfected cells and pE2.1p-injected zebrafish embryos treated with stress inducers. Comparing the luc activities driven by pE2.1p and −1125~+77 (pE1.2p) segments, we revealed that <i>cis</i>-elements located at the −2055~−1125 segment might play a critical role in <i>ENDOU-1</i> upregulation during ER stress. Since bioinformatics analysis predicted many <i>cis</i>-elements clustered at the −1850~−1250, we further deconstructed this segment to generate pE2.1p-based derivatives lacking −1850~−1750, −1749~−1650, −1649~−1486, −1485~−1350 or −1350~−1250 segments. Quantification of promoter activities driven by these five internal deletion plasmids suggested a repressor binding element within the −1649~−1486 and an activator binding element within the −1350~−1250. Since luc activities driven by the −1649~−1486 were not significantly different between normal and stress conditions, we herein propose that the stress-inducible activator bound at the −1350~−1250 segment makes a major contribution to the increased expression of human <i>ENDOU-1</i> upon ER stresses.