Open AccessMouse Hepatic metallothionein-1 gene cleavage by micrococcal nuclease is enhanced after induction by cadmium
Author(s) -
James Koropatnick,
Glen K. Andrews,
Jacob D. Duerksen,
Umesh Varshney,
Lashitew Gedamu
Publication year - 1983
Publication title -
nucleic acids research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 9.008
H-Index - 537
eISSN - 1362-4954
pISSN - 0305-1048
DOI - 10.1093/nar/11.10.3255
Subject(s) - micrococcal nuclease , biology , nuclease , gene , cleavage (geology) , metallothionein , microbiology and biotechnology , chromatin , transcription (linguistics) , gene expression , genetics , nucleosome , paleontology , linguistics , philosophy , fracture (geology)
Micrococcal nuclease has been shown to preferentially cleave chromatin in the region of genes actively engaged in transcription. We have used this preferential cleavage to show that the metallothionein (MT) gene in adult mouse liver, when induced to produce mRNA by injection of cadmium, becomes more susceptible to nuclease cleavage. However, the MT gene in uninduced liver, and the alphafoetal protein (AFP) gene in both induced and uninduced liver, remain relatively resistant to nuclease cleavage. The AFP gene is not normally expressed in cadmium induced or uninduced liver. Thus, susceptibility of genes to nuclease cleavage appears to rise with increasing transcription of the gene.