Up-regulation of rat uroguanylin mrna by dietary zinc
restriction.
Blanchard, Raymond K., and Robert J. Cousins.
Food Science and Human Nutrition Department, Center for Nutritional
Sciences, University of Florida ,Gainesville, Florida 32611
APStracts 3:0268G, 1996.
A cDNA for the rat uroguanylin precursor was identified as up
-regulated in zinc deficient rats by differential display of
intestinal mRNA and subsequently cloned. The cDNA and deduced amino
acid sequences show a high degree of homology to human and opossum
preprouroguanylin sequences. When used as a probe for northern blot
analysis of RNA from rat intestinal mucosa, the uroguanylin cDNA
hybridized to a single species of mRNA that was 2.5-fold more
abundant in zinc deficiency. A tissue distribution survey indicates
that while the small intestine expresses a disproportionately high
level of preprouroguanylin, this hormone precursor is also expressed
in the colon, stomach, kidney, thymus, and testis. The induction by
zinc deficiency is the first reported case of gene regulation for
this hormone. These results also support a potential mechanism to
explain, at least in part, the beneficial effects of zinc
supplementation for secretory diarrhea prevalent in many areas of the
world.
Received 14 June 1996; accepted in final form 9 December 1996.
APS Manuscript Number G241-6.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Gastrointest. Liver
Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1996 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 31 December 1996