Population Council Research that makes a difference

Abstract

Cloning and uterus/oviduct-specific expression of a novel estrogen-regulated gene (ERG1) 
Chen,Dahu; Xu,Xueping; Zhu,Li-Ji; Angervo,Maarit; Li,Quanxi; Bagchi,Milan K.; Bagchi,Indrani C.
Journal of Biological Chemistry 274(45): 32215-32224
Publication date: 1999


The steroid hormone estrogen profoundly influences growth and differentiation programs in the reproductive tract of cyclingand pregnant mamals. It is thought that estrogen exerts its cellulareffects by regulating the expression of specific target genes.We utilized a messenger RNA differential display method to identifythe genes whose expression is modulated by estrogen in the preimplantationrat uterus. Here we report the cloning of a novel gene (ERG1)that is tightly regulated by estrogen in two key reproductivetissues, the uterus and oviduct. Spatio-temporal analyses revealthat ERG1 mRNA is expressed in a highly stage-specific mannerin the uterus and oviduct, and its expression is restricted tothe surface epithelium of both of these tissues. Nucleotide sequenceanalysis of the full-length ERG1 cDNA indicates that it has anopen reading frame of 1821 nuceotides encoding a putative proteinof 607 amino acids with a single transmembrane domain and a shortcytoplasmic tail. The extracellular part of the protein containsseveral distinct structural motifs. These include a zona pellucidabinding domain, which is present in a number of proteins suchas the zona pellucida sperm binding proteins, and uromodulin,In addition, there is a repeat of a motif called CUB domain, whichexists in a number of genes involved in development and differentiationsuch as bone morphogenetic protein 1 (BMP1). Although the precisefunction of ERG1 eludes us presently, its unique pattern of expressionin the uterus and oviduct and its regulation by estrogen, a principalreproductive hormone, lead us to speculate that this novel geneplays an important role in events during the reproductive cycleand earlypregnancy.