Studies on transcriptional regulation in the human retina [Elektronische Ressource] : mapping of transcriptional start sites of retinal expressed genes and functional characterization of the CNGA3 promoter / vorgelegt von Ronald Erick Carpio Farro

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Sujets

• Biologie

Informations

• Publié par: eberhard_karls_universitat_tubingen
• Publié le: 01 janvier 2009
• Nombre de lectures: 23
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 2 Mo

Extrait

Studies on Transcriptional Regulation in the Human Retina:
Mapping of Transcriptional Start Sites of Retinal Expressed Genes
and
Functional Characterization of the CNGA3 promoter






Dissertation

zur Erlangung des Grades eines Doktors
der Naturwissenschaften


der Fakultät für Biologie
und
der Medizinischen Fakultät
der Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen


vorgelegt
von

Ronald Erick Carpio Farro
aus Callao

September-2009






















Tag der mündlichen Prüfung:

Dekan der Fakultät für Biologie: Prof. Dr. Hanspeter Mallot
Dekan der Medizinischen Fakultät: Prof. Dr. Ingo B. Autenrieth

1. Berichterstatter: Prof. Dr. Bernd Wissinger
2. Berichterstatter: Prof. Dr. Olaf Rieß

Prüfungskommission: Prof. Dr. Bernd Wissinger
Prof. Dr. Eberhart Zrenner
Prof. Dr. Frank Schaeffel
Prof. Dr. Thomas Gasser
Prof. Dr. Nikolaus Blin


1































“I am among those who think that science has great beauty. A scientist in his
laboratory is not only a technician: he is also a child placed before natural phenomena
which impress him like a fairy tale.”

Marie Curie
2















to my family
3

GENERAL ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
It takes a long time to write a PhD thesis, though not as long as it takes to do the
experiments for it, surprisingly. I would like to acknowledge and extend my heartfelt
gratitude to the following persons who have made the completion of this thesis
possible:
Prof. Dr. Bernd Wissinger, our Chair, for his understanding and assistance during the
achievement of this thesis at the Molecular Genetics Laboratory, Institute for
Ophthalmic Research at the Centre for Ophthalmology.
Our Director, Prof. Dr. Eberhart Zrenner and Prof. Dr. Theo van Veen, for their vital
encouragement and support.
Dr. Simone Schimpf-Linzenbold and Dr. Susanne Kohl, thank you for the supervision,
constant reminders and much needed motivation.
Dr. Katja Koeppen and Dipl. Biol. Tanja Grau, for the help, inspiration and friendship
they extended during this last four years.
Dr. Valeria Roni, for introducing me to the field of eye research.
Thanks to Dipl. Biol. Peggy Reuter for the discussions during this thesis period.
Special thanks to the great technical assistance provided by Monika Papke, Norman
Rieger and Britta Bauman during the experimental course of this thesis.
Thanks to all Molecular Genetics Laboratory and Department for Experimental
Ophthalmology members and Staff, of particular Dr. Francois Paquet-Durand, Dr.
Blanca Arango Gonzales, Dr. Stefan Kustermann and Javier Sancho Peluz, thank you
for the support, friendship and good sense of humor.
Special thanks to the Histolab Staff to Silvia Bolz and Katja Dengler for their support
with the experiments.
Finally I thank Bodil Gesslein for her love, support, stubbornness, patience and
courage during the last two years. Also thanks for the unstinting reminder that there
are more important things in life than a PhD thesis (namely enjoying walks, cooking
and travelling).
Lastly, I offer my regards and blessings to all of those who supported me in any
respect during the completion of the project, most especially to my family and friends.
And to God, who made all things possible...
4


TABLE OF CONTENTS

GENERAL ACKNOWLEDGMENTS ..................................................................... 3
TABLE OF CONTENTS .......................................................... 5
INTRODUCTION ..... 8
The Retina ............................................. 8
Structure of the Retina....................................................... 8
Phototransduction ............................................................ 10
Achromatopsia: loss of color vision ................................ 10
Gene Regulation .................................. 11
Transcription Start Sites .................................................................................. 11
The RNA Polymerase II Core Promoter ......................... 12
Core Promoter Elements ................. 14
CpG Islands ..................................................................................................... 16
In silico analysis of promoter regions ............................. 16
Transcriptional Regulation in Photoreceptors ..................................................... 17
Cone photoreceptor promoters ........................................ 18
PURPOSE OF THE WORK ................... 20
Identification of the Transcription Start Sites (TSSs) in human retinal
expressed genes ................................................................................................ 20
Identification and Characterization of the human CNGA3 gene promoter ..... 20
Experimental Outline .......................... 20
Chapter I: Identification of the Transcription Start Sites (TSSs) in human
retinal expressed genes .................................................................................... 20
Chapter II: Identification and Characterization of the human CNGA3 gene
promoter ........................................... 21
CHAPTER I: MAPPING OF TRANSCRIPTION START SITES OF HUMAN
RETINA EXPRESSED GENES ............................................................................. 22
Introduction ......... 22
Methods ............................................... 23
In silico analysis .............................................................................................. 23
Primer design................................... 23
RACE protocol 23
Cloning and sequencing of RACE products ................................................... 24
Sequence analysis ............................................................ 24
Primer extension .............................. 24
Results ................................................................................. 25
Genes Selection and in silico assembly........................... 25
Experimental examination of TSSs ................................................................. 30
Retinal expressed genes with new 5’ exons .................... 33
C1orf32........................................ 33
5

CNGA3 ........................................................................................................ 34
RDH12 ......... 35
DHRS3 ......... 36
ELOVL5 ....... 37
KIFC3 .......................................................................................................... 38
RCV1 ........... 39
SLC24A2...... 40
Detection of novel splicing variants and shorter transcripts ........................... 40
Confirmation of results with primer extension ............................................... 41
Comparison with existing annotations and databases ..... 42
Shape of TSSs and conservation ..................................... 42
Discussion ........................................................................... 45
Conclusions ......... 46
Authors' contributions ......................................................................................... 46
CHAPTER II: IDENTIFICATION AND FUNCTIONAL
CHARACTERIZATION OF THE HUMAN CNGA3 GENE PROMOTER ......... 47
Introduction ......................................................................................................... 47
Material and Methods.......................... 48
Bioinformatics . 48
Isolation of genomic DNA and retinal RNA ................................................... 48
5’-RNA ligase-mediated rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RLM-RACE) . 49
Generation of reporter gene constructs ........................... 52
Generation of deletions and extensions in the CNGA3 promoter ................... 53
Generation of site-directed mutagenesis in the CNGA3 promoter .................. 53
Cell culture ...................................................................................................... 53
Transient transfection and luciferase reporter assay ....... 54
RNA in situ hybridization on human eye cryosections ... 54
Calculation and statistics ................................................................................. 55
Results ................................ 55
Alternative transcription start sites in the human CNGA3 gene...................... 55
In silico analysis of the 5’-flanking regions of the human CNGA3 gene ........ 57
In vitro characterization of the 5’-flanking regions of the human CNGA3 ..... 58
Deletion studies of the human CNGA3 promoter............................................ 60
Mutational analysis of putative transcription factor binding sites in the
CNGA3 promoter region .................................