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In postmeiotic male germ cells poly (A) shortening accompanies translation of mRNA encoding γ enteric actin but not cytoplasmic β and γ actin mRNAs
Author(s) -
Gu Wei,
Kwon Yunhee K.,
Hecht Norman B.
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
molecular reproduction and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.745
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1098-2795
pISSN - 1040-452X
DOI - 10.1002/(sici)1098-2795(199606)44:2<141::aid-mrd1>3.0.co;2-n
Subject(s) - biology , untranslated region , messenger rna , microbiology and biotechnology , cytoplasm , actin , polysome , translation (biology) , p bodies , northern blot , rna , gene , ribosome , genetics
Abstract In the mammalian testis the cytoplasmic β and γ actins are expressed in all stages of germ‐cell differentiation, whereas γ enteric actin is expressed in germ cells solely in postmeiotic stages. Northern blot analysis of mouse testicular RNAs reveals actin mRNAs of about 2.1, 1.5, and 1.4 kB. The 2.1‐kB mRNAs encode the cytoplasmic β and γ actins, whereas the two faster‐migrating actin mRNAs encode γ enteric actin. When post‐mitochondrial mouse testis extracts are fractionated by sucrose gradient centrifugation, the 1.5‐kB γ enteric actin mRNA is primarily found in the nonpolysomal fraction, whereas the 1.4‐kB γ enteric actin is polysomal. When the poly (A) tails are removed, the nonpolysomal and polysomal γ enteric actin mRNAs both migrate at 1.3 kB, indicating that the difference in electrophoretic mobilities of the two γ enteric actin mRNAs is caused by poly (A) length differences. The nonpolysomal and polysomal forms of the cytoplasmic β and γ actins show similar electrophoretic mobilities before and after deadenylation. Sequence comparison of the 3′ untranslated region of the mouse γ enteric actin to the 3′ untranslated regions of other testicular mRNAs that undergo partial deadenylation reveals three highly‐conserved sequence elements. These data demonstrate that the poly (A) shortening of polysomal mRNAs previously seen only with testis‐specific mRNAs that are stored as mRNPs also occurs with mRNAs of widely‐expressed genes that are expressed in postmeiotic male germ cells. The mRNAs all contain specific conserved sequence elements in their 3′ untranslated regions. © 1996 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.