Isolation, mapping, and characterization of the gene encoding mouse c-type natriuretic peptide: regulated expression in female reproductive organs. Huang, Huaming, Cory G. Acuff, and Mark E. Steinhelper. Vascular Biology and Hypertension Program of the Division of Cardiovascular Disease, Departments of Medicine and Cell Biology, University of Alabama at Birmingham, Birmingham, Alabama
APStracts 3:0156H, 1996.
Genomic sequences encoding mouse C-type natriuretic peptide (CNP) were isolated from bacteriophage libraries and characterized by restriction enzyme and sequence analysis. The mouse CNP gene (Nppc) comprised at least two exons and one intron and included several cis -regulatory elements in the 5'-flanking sequence. The deduced amino acid sequence of mouse CNP-22 was identical to other mammalian CNPs. Analysis of allele distributions in interspecific backcross and recombinant inbred strains assigned Nppc to chromosome 1. CNP transcripts were detected by ribonuclease protection analysis in brain, ovary and uterus, with lower levels in testes and epididymus. Uterine CNP transcripts and protein were low in sexually immature mice and adults at estrus and increased at proestrus, but similar variations in ovarian CNP expression were not statistically significant. ANP and BNP transcripts were not detected in mouse ovary or uterus. Thus, CNP gene expression is regulated by tissue-specific and inducible mechanisms in female reproductive organs. Correlations between CNP expression and uterine fluid content suggest that CNP may regulate uterine fluid balance in mice and other mammals. 

Received 1 February 1996; accepted in final form 4 April 1996.
APS Manuscript Number H100-6.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Heart Circ. Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1996 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 23 April 96