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A monoclonal antibody (C-315) specific for cardiac-type C-protein was prepared and, in combination with other antibodies specific for fast and slow skeletal muscle C-proteins, it was used to investigate the expression of C-protein isoforms in developing striated muscle cells in vivo and in vitro. During embryonic development of skeletal muscles, a C-protein recognized by C-315 appeared first but only transiently, it being replaced subsequently by two other isoforms recognized by the antibodies to slow and fast skeletal muscle C-proteins in a fiber-type specific manner as previously demonstrated (Obinata et al. (1984) Develop. Biol. 101, 116-124). In contrast, only cardiac-type C-protein was detected in cardiac muscle throughout the developmental stages. When myogenesis in vitro was monitored using the same antibodies, C-315 binding appeared first in multinucleated myotubes as in vivo which was followed by the sequential expression of two other C-protein variants. The reactivity of C-315 as well as that of anti-slow and anti-fast skeletal C-protein antibodies persisted during muscle development in culture. Thus, this study demonstrates that the earliest form of C-protein expressed in striated muscles may either be a cardiac-type isoform or a unique embryonic protein containing an epitope in common with the adult cardiac-type protein, and that transitions of C-protein isoform expression characteristic of each fiber-type occur during muscle development in vivo but not in vitro.

Yeast ENO1 promoter was prepared by a chemical synthetic method. Two variant promoters containing a pyrimidine-rich region (CT block), located between the TATA box and the transcription start site, either 32 or 34 base pairs (bp) longer than the native ENO1 promoter were isolated during the chemical synthesis. Gene expression of variant promoters was compared with that of the native promoter by measuring the amount of mRNA and the activity of beta-galactosidase by constructing ENO1-lacZ gene fusions. No significant differences were observed between the native and variant promoters in transcription levels. The start site of transcription was mapped on CAAG, a consensus sequence of transcription start site of yeast glycolytic genes. The results suggest a longer CT block in ENO1 promoter may not affect the expression of the yeast ENO1 gene. In addition, the level of ENO1 gene expression was found to be higher in stationary phase cells than in log phase cells.

An 85 bp DNA fragment, the nucleotide sequence of which had 84% homology with the sequence for the promoter, ribosome binding site and NH2-terminal five amino acids of the Bacillus amyloliquefaciens alpha-amylase gene, was chemically synthesized. In order to analyze the promoter activity of a Bacillus subtilis alpha-amylase secretion vector, the fragment was inserted between the promoter and signal peptide-coding region of Bacillus subtilis alpha-amylase gene. Both promoters, tandemly repeated, functioned in transcribing the B. subtilis alpha-amylase signal peptide-coding region followed by the Escherichia coli beta-lactamase structural gene. The transcription initiation sites were determined by the primer extension method. The extracellular production of beta-lactamase was stimulated by two promoters as compared with that by the plasmids containing either promoter region alone. The change of two amino acids in the NH2-terminal region of the B. subtilis alpha-amylase signal peptide had no effect on the secretion of beta-lactamase from B. subtilis cells.