title: Mechanisms of radiation-induced gene responses.
abstract: While identifying genes differentially expressed in cells exposed to ultraviolet radiation, we identified a transcript with a 25-nucleotide region that is highly conserved among a variety of species, including Bacillus circulans, pumpkin, yeast, Drosophila, mouse, and man. In the 5' untranslated region of a gene, the sequence is predominantly in a +/+ orientation with respect to the coding DNA strand; while in the coding region and the 3' untranslated region, the sequence is most frequently in a -/+ orientation. The element is found in many different genes that have diverse functions. Gel mobility shift assays demonstrated the presence of a protein in HeLa cell extracts that binds to the sense and antisense single-stranded consensus oligomers, as well as to double-stranded oligonucleotide. When double-stranded oligomer was used, the size shift demonstrated an additional protein-oligomer complex larger than the one bound to either sense or antisense single-stranded consensus oligomers alone. This element may bind to protein(s) that maintain DNA in a single-stranded orientation for transcription, or be important in the transcription-coupled DNA repair process.
authors.affiliation: Center for Mechanistic Biology and Biotechnology, Argonne National Laboratory, Illinois, USA.
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Woloschak
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Paunesku
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001407:Bacillus / Q000235:genetics; D001483:Base Sequence; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D019662:Cucurbitaceae / Q000235:genetics; D017931:DNA Primers; D004260:DNA Repair; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000528:radiation effects*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000528:radiation effects*
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers