Open AccessThyrotropin-releasing hormone exerts rapid nuclear effects to increase production of the primary prolactin mRNA transcript.
Author(s) -
Ellen Potter,
A. Kathryn Nicolaisen,
Estelita S. Ong,
Ronald M. Evans,
M G Rosenfeld
Publication year - 1981
Publication title -
proceedings of the national academy of sciences of the united states of america
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1091-6490
pISSN - 0027-8424
DOI - 10.1073/pnas.78.11.6662
Subject(s) - prolactin , thyrotropin releasing hormone , prolactin cell , messenger rna , medicine , endocrinology , gene expression , hormone , protein biosynthesis , biology , pituitary gland , cell culture , gene , microbiology and biotechnology , biochemistry , genetics
This report directly documents that a polypeptide hormone can regulate specific gene expression as a consequence of increasing the levels of a primary genomic transcript. The regulation and expression of the prolactin gene was studied in a cell line (GH4) derived from a rat pituitary tumor. These cells respond to addition of the hypothalamic tripeptide, thyrotropin-releasing hormone (TRH; thyroliberin), by elevation of the levels of mature prolactin mRNA and increase in prolactin biosynthesis. The message induction is preceded by, and apparently consequential to, a comparable rapid increase in the nuclear prolactin RNA precursors, including the putative primary transcript.