PT  - JOURNAL ARTICLE
AU  - Xinli Hu
AU  - Jing Bi
AU  - Horace H. Loh
AU  - Li-Na Wei
TI  - Regulation of Mouse κ Opioid Receptor Gene Expression by Different 3′-Untranslated Regions and the Effect of Retinoic Acid
AID  - 10.1124/mol.62.4.881
DP  - 2002 Oct 01
TA  - Molecular Pharmacology
PG  - 881--887
VI  - 62
IP  - 4
4099  - http://molpharm.aspetjournals.org/content/62/4/881.short
4100  - http://molpharm.aspetjournals.org/content/62/4/881.full
SO  - Mol Pharmacol2002 Oct 01; 62
AB  - The mouse κ opioid receptor (KOR) gene uses two functional polyadenylation signals, separated by a distance of approximately 2.2 kilobases (kb) in the 3′-end of the gene. As a result, two major groups of KOR transcripts, with sizes of approximately 1.6 and 3.8 kb, respectively, are detected in mouse tissues and P19 cells. Utilization of different poly(A) of theKOR gene produces KOR transcripts of different mRNA stability, transcription efficiency, and regulatability. Retinoic acid specifically suppresses the expression of KOR transcripts using the second poly(A) in P19 cells. A putative transcriptional enhancer region is present within the second 3′-untranslated region (3′-UTR). It is concluded that alternative polyadenylation of the mouse KOR transcripts results in differential regulation of KOR expression at both transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. A negative regulatory pathway for KOR transcription involves a putative enhancer region in its 3′-UTR. KOR mRNAs using the second poly(A) is more stable than that using the first poly(A).