title: Structure and expression of the gene encoding secretor-type galactoside 2-alpha-L-fucosyltransferase (FUT2).
abstract: The expression and secretion of ABO antigens in epithelial cells of glands are controlled by secretor-type alpha (1,2)fucosyltransferase activity. We have examined the expression of the secretor-type alpha(1,2)fucosyltransferase gene (FUT2) and a pseudogene of FUT2 (Sec1) in several tumor cell lines by northern blot and/or reverse-transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) analyses. Transcripts of FUT2 were found in total RNA from ovarian, gastric and colonic cancer cell lines but not from six leukemic cell lines, including erythroleukemic HEL cells, by RT-PCR. On the other hand, RT-PCR indicated that Sec1 was expressed in all these tumor cells, including all hematopoietic cells studied. Northern blot analysis indicated that FUT2 transcripts with a similar size (3.3 kb) were expressed in cancer cell lines. Rapid amplification of cDNA ends suggested that the entire FUT2 cDNA is 3.1-kb long and has two Alu repetitive elements in its 3' untranslated region, including an inverted repeat. The mRNA, therefore, may form a large stem-and-loop structure (1.2 kb). Each stem contains about 300 bases, the loop contains 640 bases, and the percentage of complementary nucleotide sequences in the stem region is 85%. The presence of a large stem-and-loop structure in the 3' untranslated region may regulate the level of the FUT2 transcript by affecting the stability of the mRNA.
authors.affiliation: Department of Forensic Medicine, Kurume University School of Medicine, Japan.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Koda
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Soejima
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Kimura
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D019556:COS Cells; D005091:Exons; D005647:Fucosyltransferases / Q000235:genetics*; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D051938:Munc18 Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D019105:Random Amplified Polymorphic DNA Technique; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D033921:Vesicular Transport Proteins; D000097631:Galactoside 2-alpha-L-fucosyltransferase
chemical_list: D005647:Fucosyltransferases; D051938:Munc18 Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D033921:Vesicular Transport Proteins; D000097631:Galactoside 2-alpha-L-fucosyltransferase