Endocrinology Vol. 138, No. 12 5144-5152
Copyright © 1997 by The Endocrine Society
Expression of Chicken Hepatic Type I and Type III Iodothyronine Deiodinases during Embryonic Development1
Serge Van der Geyten2,
Jo P. Sanders2,
Ellen Kaptein,
Veerle M. Darras,
Eduard R. Kühn,
Jack L. Leonard and
Theo J. Visser
Department of Internal Medicine III, Erasmus University Medical
School (S.V.d.G., J.P.S., E.K., T.J.V.), 3000 DR Rotterdam, The
Netherlands; Laboratory of Comparative Endocrinology, K. U. Leuven
(S.V.d.G., V.M.D., E.R.K.), 3000 Leuven, Belgium; and the Department of
Nuclear Medicine, University of Massachusetts Medical Center (J.L.L.),
Worcester, Massachusetts 01655
Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Theo J. Visser, Ph.D., Department of Internal Medicine III, Erasmus University Medical School, Room Bd 234, P.O. Box 1738, 3000 DR Rotterdam, The Netherlands. E-mail: visser{at}inw3.azr.nl
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Abstract
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In embryonic chicken liver (ECL) two types of iodothyronine deiodinases
are expressed: D1 and D3. D1 catalyzes the activation as well as the
inactivation of thyroid hormone by outer and inner ring deiodination,
respectively. D3 only catalyzes inner ring deiodination. D1 and D3 have
been cloned from mammals and amphibians and shown to contain a
selenocysteine (Sec) residue. We characterized chicken D1 and D3
complementary DNAs (cDNAs) and studied the expression of hepatic D1 and
D3 messenger RNAs (mRNAs) during embryonic development.
Oligonucleotides based on two amino acid sequences strongly conserved
in the different deiodinases (NFGSCTSecP and YIEEAH) were used for
reverse transcription-PCR of poly(A+) RNA isolated from
embryonic day 17 (E17) chicken liver, resulting in the amplification of
two 117-bp DNA fragments. Screening of an E17 chicken liver cDNA
library with these probes led to the isolation of two cDNA clones,
ECL1711 and ECL1715. The ECL1711 clone was 1360 bp long and lacked a
translation start site. Sequence alignment showed that it shared
highest sequence identity with D1s from other vertebrates and that the
coding sequence probably lacked the first five nucleotides. An ATG
start codon was engineered by site-directed mutagenesis, generating a
mutant (ECL1711M) with four additional codons (coding for MGTR). The
open reading frame of ECL1711M coded for a 249-amino acid protein
showing 5862% identity with mammalian D1s. An in-frame TGA codon was
located at position 127, which is translated as Sec in the presence of
a Sec insertion sequence (SECIS) identified in the 3'-untranslated
region. Enzyme activity expressed in COS-1 cells by transfection with
ECL1711M showed the same catalytic, substrate, and inhibitor
specificities as native chicken D1. The ECL1715 clone was 1366 bp long
and also lacked a translation start site. Sequence alignment showed
that it was most homologous with D3 from other species and that the
coding sequence lacked approximately the first 46 nucleotides. The
deduced amino acid sequence showed 6272% identity with the D3
sequences from other species, including a putative Sec residue at a
corresponding position. The 3'-untranslated region of ECL1715 also
contained a SECIS element. These results indicate that ECL1711 and
ECL1715 are near-full-length cDNA clones for chicken D1 and D3
selenoproteins, respectively. The ontogeny of D1 and D3 expression in
chicken liver was studied between E14 and 1 day after hatching (C1). D1
activity showed a gradual increase from E14 until C1, whereas D1 mRNA
level remained relatively constant. D3 activity and mRNA level were
highly significantly correlated, showing an increase from E14 to E17
and a strong decrease thereafter. These results suggest that the
regulation of chicken hepatic D3 expression during embryonic
development occurs predominantly at the pretranslational level.
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Introduction
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IN MOST vertebrates the thyroid secretes
predominantly T4, a prohormone with little or no biological
activity. The activation of T4 occurs in
peripheral tissues by outer ring deiodination (ORD) to
T3. Two iodothyronine deiodinases, D1 and D2, are
responsible for this conversion. Inactivation of
T4 and T3 by inner ring
deiodination (IRD) to rT3 and
3,3'-diiodothyronine (3, 3'-T2), respectively, is catalyzed
by D1 and D3 (1). In recent years, the different deiodinases have been
cloned from rat (2, 3, 4), human (5, 6, 7), mouse (8), dog (9), Rana
catesbeiana (10, 11), and Xenopus laevis (12). They
exhibit significant sequence homology and contain catalytically
essential selenocysteine (Sec) residues. In addition, we have recently
characterized D1 and D3 from a teleost fish (tilapia)
(13),3 whereas the cloning of
D2 from Fundulus heteroclitus has recently also been
reported (14). Information concerning other vertebrates is lacking, as
bird and reptile deiodinases have not yet been cloned.
It is well known that thyroid hormone plays an important role in many
crucial developmental events in all vertebrate classes. In birds, this
hormone is essential for yolk sac retraction, functional maturation of
the lungs, pipping (penetration of the air sac), and hatching (15).
Decuypere et al. (16, 17) showed that plasma
T3 increases dramatically at the moment of
pipping, when the embryo switches from allantoic to lung respiration.
This is correlated with a decrease in hepatic D3 activity rather than
with an increased D1 activity, suggesting that the peak in plasma
T3 at the end of incubation is caused by a
decrease in its hepatic breakdown (18). Later studies showed that the
increase in plasma GH, also observed at the end of incubation, plays an
important role in the suppression of hepatic D3 activity (19, 20).
In this study we generated complementary DNA (cDNA) fragments by
reverse transcription-PCR (RT-PCR) of polyadenylated RNA from embryonic
day 17 (E17) chicken liver using primers based on the conserved amino
acid sequences NFGSCTSecP and YIEEAH. Using these RT-PCR products as
probes, we isolated two cDNA clones from an E17 chicken liver cDNA
library, each of which appears to code for a Sec-containing protein.
One clone shows highest sequence homology with mammalian D1 cDNAs and
expresses characteristic D1 activity after transfection into COS-1
cells. The other clone, which lacks approximately the first 16 codons,
shows high homology with mammalian and amphibian D3 cDNAs. These two
cDNA clones were used in the study of D1 and D3 expression in chicken
liver during embryonic development.
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Materials and Methods
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Materials
TRIzol reagent was obtained from Life Technologies (Breda, The
Netherlands); oligo(deoxythymidine)-cellulose [oligo(dT)cellulose]
was purchased from New England Biolabs (Beverly, MA); SuperTaq DNA
polymerase was obtained from HT Biotechnology (Cambridge, UK); AMV
reverse transcriptase and pCI-Neo were purchased from Promega (Madison,
WI); Klenow DNA polymerase was obtained from Boehringer Mannheim
(Mannheim, Germany); pCR-II was obtained from Invitrogen (San Diego,
CA); synthetic oligonucleotides were obtained from Pharmacia Biotech
(Roosendaal, The Netherlands) or Life Technologies; Hybond membranes
and [
-32P]deoxy-ATP were purchased from Amersham
(Aylesbury, UK); polyethylene glycol (PEG6000) was obtained from Merck
(Hohenbrunn, Germany); diethylaminoethyl-dextran and Sephadex LH-20
were purchased from Pharmacia. Nonradioactive iodothyronines were
obtained from Henning Berlin R&D (Berlin, Germany),
[3',5'-125I]T4 (
1200 Ci/mmol)
was obtained from Amersham, and
[3,5-125I]T3 (
35 Ci/mmol) was
obtained from Mr. R. Thoma (Formula, Berlin, Germany) courtesy of Dr.
G. Decker (Henning Berlin).
[3',5'-125I]rT3 (
2000 Ci/mmol)
and [3,5-125I]T3 sulfate
([3,5-125I]T3S) were prepared in our
laboratory as described previously (21, 22).
6-n-Propyl-2-thiouracil (PTU), iodoacetate (IAc), gold
thioglucose (GTG), dithiothreitol (DTT), and chloroquine were obtained
from Sigma Chemical Co. (St. Louis, MO). All other reagents were of the
highest purity commercially available.
Animals
Fertilized chicken eggs from a rapidly growing broiler strain
(Hybro) were purchased from Euribrid (Aarschot, Belgium) and incubated
in a laboratory incubator as described previously (18). The start of
incubation was defined as E1. Animals were killed between day 14 (E14)
and day 20 (E20) of embryonic development, on day 21 just after
hatching (C0), and 1 day after hatching (C1). Of the animals killed on
E20, approximately half were in the nonpipping stage, and the other
half were in the internal pipping stage. Livers were isolated, frozen
in liquid nitrogen, pooled, and stored at -80 C until further
processing. Livers were pooled from seven (E14), five (E15), four
(E16), three (E17), and two (E18C2) animals. Blood was collected by
cardiac puncture (embryos) or decapitation (chicks). Plasma pools from
two animals (E14 and E15) or individual plasma samples (E16C2) were
stored at -20 C until hormone analysis. The experimental protocol was
approved by the ethical experimental animal committee of the K. U.
Leuven.
Cloning
Total RNA was isolated from embryonic chicken liver (ECL) by
homogenization of tissue in TRIzol reagent, and polyadenylated RNA was
isolated on oligo(dT)-cellulose. Oligo(dT)-primed cDNA was obtained
using AMV reverse transcriptase. PCR was performed using the upstream
primer 5'-AATTTTGGCAGTTGTACCTGACC-3', the downstream primer
5'-RTGIGCTTCCTCIATGTA-3', and SuperTaq DNA polymerase. The products
were isolated and ligated into pCR-II. Two different clones were
isolated and sequenced, showing that the inserts were homologous to
known deiodinases. An E17 chicken liver cDNA library was constructed in
Lambda ZAP-Express (Stratagene, La Jolla, CA). The library was blotted
on Hybond-N+ and screened with the RT-PCR products labeled
by extension of the PCR primers using Klenow DNA polymerase in the
presence of [
-32P]deoxy-ATP. The phagemids carried in
selected positive bacteriophages were excised, generating cDNA clones
in pBK-CMV. cDNA inserts were then sequenced manually and by automatic
sequencing in both directions using the dideoxy method of Sanger
et al. (23).
Transient transfection
The cDNA encoding chicken D1 (ECL1711) was subcloned from
pBK-CMV into pCI-Neo using EcoRI and NotI. Both
clones isolated (ECL1711 and ECL1715) were 5'-truncated based on
alignment with known deiodinases from other vertebrates (2, 3, 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 12), with coding sequences that presumably lacked the first 5
and 46 nucleotides, respectively. A eukaryotic translation start site
(24) was engineered in ECL1711 at the EcoRI restriction site
by site-directed mutagenesis using the oligonucleotide
5'-GCTAGCCTCGAGAAATGGGCACGAGGTTGA-3' and the MORPH kit
(5Prime
3Prime, Boulder, CO), yielding the mutant ECL1711M. This
mutation, which was confirmed by sequencing, created an ATG start codon
in a Kozak consensus sequence (24), and resulted in a four-amino acid
(MGTR) addition to the N-terminus of the amino acid sequence encoded by
the cDNA (see Fig. 1
). RNA secondary
structure prediction was performed using the MFOLD program provided by
Dr. M. Zuker (Institute for Biomedical Computing, Washington
University, St. Louis, MO) on the Internet
(http:/www.ibc.wustl.edu/
zuker) (25).

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Figure 1. Nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequence of
ECL1711M cDNA. Lower case nucleotides are derived from the vector. The
bold nucleotides a and g were substituted for
t and c, respectively, by site-directed
mutagenesis of ECL1711 cDNA as described in Materials and
Methods. The Sec residue is denoted by X. The putative SECIS
element in the 3'UTR is underlined.
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Expression
ECL1711M was expressed in COS-1 cells grown in DMEM-Hams F-12
(DMEM/F12) containing 10% FCS (Life Technologies) and 40
nM Na2SeO3 (26). One day before
transfection, COS-1 cells were seeded at 50% confluency in
55-cm2 cell culture dishes. ECL1711M in pCI-Neo (7 µg),
isolated by alkaline lysis and polyethylene glycol precipitation (27),
was added to serum-free DMEM/F12 medium containing 100 µg/ml
diethylaminoethyl-dextran. After 2 h, the medium was replaced by
serum-free DMEM/F12 medium containing 100 µM chloroquine,
and the cells were incubated for an additional 2 h. The medium was
then replaced with fresh DMEM/F12 medium containing 10% FCS and 40
nM Na2SO3. After 3 days, the cells
were rinsed with PBS, collected in 0.3 ml 0.1 M sodium
phosphate buffer (pH 6.9) containing 1 mM EDTA and 10
mM DTT, sonicated, snap-frozen on dry-ice/ethanol, and
stored at -80 C.
Northern analysis
Total tissue RNA (20 µg/lane) was separated on 1% (wt/vol)
formaldehyde-agarose gels and blotted onto Hybond-N membranes. Blots
were hybridized at 60 C with random hexamer-primed
32P-labeled cDNA probes in 6 x SSC (standard saline
citrate), 0.5% SDS, 5 x Denhardts solution (1X Denhardts
solution = 0.2% Ficoll, 0.2% BSA, and 0.2% polyvinylpyrrolidone),
and denatured salmon sperm DNA (100 µg/ml). Blots were washed twice
for 15 min each time at 55 C with 3 x SSC-0.5% SDS and twice for
15 min each time at 60 C with 1 x SSC-0.5% SDS. Autoradiographs
were scanned using a Hewlett-Packard Scanjet IIcx (Palo Alto, CA), and
signals were quantified using software developed by Dr. R. Docter
(Department of Internal Medicine III, Erasmus University Medical
School, Rotterdam, The Netherlands). Photographs of the ethidium
bromide-stained gels were analyzed similarly, indicating less than 20%
variation in the amount of applied RNA.
Enzyme assays
Liver microsomal fractions were prepared as described previously
(18). Deiodinase activities of native and recombinant enzyme
preparations were determined by measuring the radioiodide released from
either [3',5'-125I]T4 or
[3',5'-125I]rT3 by ORD, or from
[3,5-125I]T3 or
[3,5-125I]T3S by IRD (21, 22). In
short, 0.5200 µg tissue or lysate protein were incubated in
triplicate for 2060 min at 37 C with 10 or 100 nM
[125I]substrate in 0.2 ml 0.1 M sodium
phosphate buffer (pH 7.2), 2 mM EDTA, and 10 mM
DTT. Reactions were stopped, and [125I]iodothyronines
were precipitated by successive addition of 0.1 ml 5% BSA and 0.5 ml
10% trichloroacetic acid. Radioiodide was further isolated from the
supernatant on Sephadex LH-20 minicolumns (21, 22). The characteristics
of the deiodinase activity expressed in ECL1711M-transfected COS-1
cells were compared with those determined in E19 chicken liver
microsomes. For the developmental study, D1 and D3 activities were
assayed as described by Darras et al. (18). For D1 activity,
incubation mixtures contained 1 µM
[3',5'-125I]rT3, 50 µg/ml
microsomal protein, and 5 mM DTT. For D3 activity,
incubations contained 10 nM
[3'-125I]T3, 10 or 500 µg/ml
microsomal protein, 1 µM rT3, 0.1
mM PTU, and 50 mM DTT.
Miscellaneous
Plasma T3 and T4
were measured as described by Darras et al. (28, 29). Unless
indicated otherwise, the results presented are taken from
representative experiments and were reproduced in at least two other
experiments.
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Results
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Based on homology between conserved amino acid sequences in known
deiodinases (2, 5, 9, 12), oligonucleotide primers were designed
corresponding to the conserved amino acid sequences NFGSCTSecP and
YIEEAH. These primers were used to amplify two cDNA fragments, ECL17a
and ECL17b, by RT-PCR. Both fragments were 117 bp long and showed high
homology with corresponding regions of other reported iodothyronine
deiodinase nucleotide sequences (2, 5, 9, 12). ECL17a and ECL17b were
then used as probes to screen an E17 chicken liver cDNA library
(120,000 independent clones). This resulted in the identification of 20
(ECL17a) and 8 (ECL17b) positive clones from a total of 500,000
plaque-forming units of the amplified cDNA library. The longest clones
were identified after PCR with vector-specific and RT-PCR
product-specific primers. The cryptic pBK-CMV eukaryotic expression
plasmids containing the cDNA inserts were excised from the
bacteriophage and sequenced.
Chicken D1
The longest cDNA clone identified after screening with ECL17a
(clone ECL1711) was 1360 bp long, but it lacked a translation start
site (Fig. 1
). Alignment with the reported sequences of other
deiodinases showed that it shared highest sequence identity with D1s
from other species (2, 5, 7, 9), and based on optimal nucleotide
alignment, this clone presumably lacked the first five nucleotides of
the coding sequence. After subcloning of ECL1711 into pCI-Neo, an ATG
start codon in a Kozak consensus sequence (24) was engineered by
site-directed mutagenesis at the EcoRI restriction site,
expanding the coding sequence by four codons (coding for MGTR), which
then is probably two codons longer than the authentic coding sequence.
Figure 2
shows the alignment of the
deduced amino acid sequence of the mutant, ECL1711M, with those of
other D1s, indicating that it has 62% amino acid identity with human
D1 (5), 60% identity with rat D1 (2), and 58% identity with dog D1
(9). ECL1711M also contains an in-frame TGA codon at position 127,
i.e. at the corresponding position as in the other D1s (Fig. 1
). UGA usually functions as a translation stop codon, but is
translated as Sec when a Sec insertion sequence (SECIS) element is
present in the 3'-untranslated region (3'UTR) of selenoprotein-coding
messenger RNAs (mRNAs) (30, 31, 32). A putative SECIS element is located
between nucleotides 12171303 in ECL1711M (Fig. 1
).

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Figure 2. Alignment of deduced amino acid sequences of
chicken, rat, human, and dog D1. The Sec residue is denoted by X.
Identical amino acids are indicated by dots, and gaps
are indicated by hyphens. Bold amino acids indicate the
additional residues engineered to the N-terminus of ECL1711.
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Transient expression of the original ECL1711 carried in pCI-Neo in
COS-1 cells did not result in the synthesis of a functional deiodinase.
However, COS-1 cells transfected with ECL1711M in the same vector
expressed high deiodinase activity. Incubation of lysates of
ECL1711M-transfected cells with 10 nM
125I-labeled substrates in the presence of 10
mM DTT resulted in significant ORD of
T4 and rT3 and IRD of
T3 and T3S (Fig. 3
). Rates of iodothyronine deiodination
decreased in the order rT3 >
T3S > T4 >
T3, which is identical with the substrate
preference demonstrated by native chicken D1 in E19 chicken liver
microsomes (Fig. 3
).

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Figure 3. ORD of T4 and rT3 and IRD
of T3 and T3S by recombinant enzyme expressed
in ECL1711M-transfected COS-1 cells and native enzyme in E19 chicken
liver microsomes. Assay mixtures contained 10 nM substrate,
10 mM DTT, and 250 (lysate) or 10 (microsomes) µg
protein/ml and were incubated for 60 min at 37 C.
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Further characterization of the protein encoded by ECL1711M was
performed by determining the effects of substrate analogs and typical
D1 inhibitors on the deiodination of the preferred substrate
rT3, and the results were compared with those
obtained using E19 liver microsomes as a source of native D1.
Increasing concentrations (0.110 µM) of
rT3, T4, and
T3 resulted in the progressive and identical
inhibition of the ORD of
[3',5'-125I]rT3 by
ECL17711M-expressed and native D1 activity (Fig. 4
). The potencies by which the different
unlabeled iodothyronines inhibited the ORD of
[125I]rT3 decreased in the order
rT3 > T4 >
T3, with IC50 values of approximately
0.3, 2, and more than 10 µM, respectively. The
Km value for rT3 calculated
from Lineweaver-Burk plots was 0.26 µM for both
ECL1711M-expressed enzyme and native chicken D1 (not shown).

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Figure 4. Inhibition of the ORD of
[3',5'-125I]rT3 by recombinant enzyme
expressed in ECL1711M-transfected COS-1 cells (A) or native enzyme in
E19 chicken liver microsomes (B) by 0.110 µM unlabeled
rT3, T4, or T3. Assay mixtures
contained 10 nM [3,5'-125I]rT3,
10 mM DTT, and 100 (lysate) or 10 (microsomes) µg
protein/ml and were incubated for 60 (lysate) or 30 (microsomes) min at
37 C.
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Figure 5
shows that addition of 0.1100
µM PTU or IAc or 0.0110 µM GTG resulted
in the dose-dependent and identical inhibition of the ORD of 0.1
µM rT3 by the ECL1711M-encoded
enzyme and native chicken D1 in the presence of 10 mM DTT.
In both cases, the IC50 values were about 30 nM
for GTG and about 2 µM for both PTU and IAc. Taken
together, these data demonstrate that ECL1711 cDNA codes for chicken
D1.

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Figure 5. Inhibition of the ORD of
[3',5'-125I]rT3 by recombinant enzyme
expressed in ECL1711M-transfected COS-1 cells (A) or native enzyme in
E19 chicken liver microsomes (B) by 0.1100 µM PTU or
IAc or 0.0110 µM GTG. Assay mixtures contained 0.1
µM [3',5'-125I]rT3, 10
mM DTT, and 100 (lysate) or 2.5 (microsomes) µg
protein/ml and were incubated for 60 min at 37 C.
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Chicken D3
Eight positive clones were identified by screening of the E17
chicken liver cDNA library with the ECL17b PCR fragment. The longest
cDNA clone (ECL1715) was sequenced and found to be 1366 bp long, but
unfortunately, it also lacked a translation start site (Fig. 6
). Alignment of this sequence with the
reported sequences of other deiodinases showed that ECL1715 shared
sequence identity with D3s from other species (3, 6, 10, 12), and that
the coding sequence presumably lacked the first 46 nucleotides.
Alignment of the deduced amino acid sequence from ECL1715 with the
sequences of other D3s indicated 62% amino acid identity with rat D3
(3), 63% identity with human D3 (6), 72% identity with X.
laevis D3 (12), and 71% identity with R. catesbeiana
D3 (10) (Fig. 7
). The homology between
ECL1715 and the other D3 sequences includes the presence of a
Sec-encoding TGA codon at a corresponding position as well as a SECIS
element in the 3'UTR (Fig. 7
).

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Figure 6. Nucleotide and deduced amino acid sequence of
ECL1715 cDNA. The Sec residue is denoted by X. The putative SECIS
element in the 3'UTR is underlined.
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Figure 7. Alignment of deduced amino acid sequences of
chicken, X. laevis, R. catesbeiana, rat,
and human D3. The Sec residue is denoted by X. Identical amino acids
are indicated by dots, and gaps are indicated by
hyphens.
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The 5'-truncation of ECL1715 was presumed to be too large to expect the
expression of a functional deiodinase, even if a translation start site
was engineered immediately upstream of this truncated sequence as was
performed for the ECL1711 clone described above. To obtain a
full-length clone, an additional 500,000 plagues were screened, but no
clones longer than ECL1715 were identified. Attempts to complement the
nucleotide sequence of ECL1715 by rapid amplification of 5'-cDNA ends
also failed. However, the finding that the putative protein coded for
by ECL1715 shows much greater homology with D3 than with D1 or D2
variants from other species (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14) strongly suggests that it
represents a near-full-length cDNA coding for chicken D3.
Ontogeny of D1 and D3 in the chicken
During the last week of embryonic development, important changes
in circulating thyroid hormone were observed. Plasma
T3 levels increased dramatically after E18 until
the moment of internal pipping (E20IP) and decreased somewhat until
hatching (C0; Fig. 8
). Plasma
T4 levels gradually increased from E14 until E18,
and remained relatively constant thereafter (Fig. 8
). In comparison,
Fig. 9
shows the ontogeny of hepatic D1
activity, catalyzing the ORD of T4 to
T3 and of rT3 to
3,3'-T2, and Fig. 10
shows
the ontogeny of hepatic D3 activity, catalyzing the IRD of
T4 to rT3 and of
T3 to 3,3'-T2. D1 activity gradually
increased from E14 until a maximum was reached 1 day after hatching
(C1). D3 activity increased between E14 and E17 and rapidly decreased
between E18 and E20IP. When the profiles of the mean plasma thyroid
hormone levels (n = 724) and mean hepatic iodothyronine
deiodinase activities (n = 45) were compared, plasma
T3 was positively correlated with D1 activity
(r = 0.700; P < 0.05) and negatively correlated
with D3 activity (r = -0.767; P < 0.01). Despite
the increase in the plasma levels of the precursor
T4, plasma T3 remained low
between E14 and E17, and this was associated with a doubling of hepatic
D3 activity. Between E18 and E20IP, plasma T4
remained almost constant, but plasma T3 increased
sharply, which was associated with a dramatic decrease in hepatic D3
activity. No correlation was found between plasma
T4 levels and hepatic D3 activity (r =
-0.359; P = NS). However, a strong positive
correlation was found between plasma T4 levels
and hepatic D1 activity (r = 0.833; P < 0.01);
both showed a gradual increase during ontogeny (Figs. 8
and 9
).

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Figure 8. Plasma T4 () and T3
( ) levels during embryonic development. Results are presented as the
mean ± SEM of 724 plasma samples. NP, Nonpipping;
IP, internal pipping.
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Figure 9. A, Hepatic D1 activity () and D1 mRNA level
( ) during embryonic development. Results are presented as the
mean ± SEM of four or five (activity) or two (mRNA)
liver pools. B, Northern blot of chicken liver RNA hybridized with
radiolabeled ECL1711 cDNA.
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Figure 10. A, Hepatic D3 activity () and D3 mRNA level
( ) during embryonic development. Results are presented as the
mean ± SEM of four or five (activity) or two (mRNA)
liver pools. B, Northern blot of chicken liver RNA hybridized with
radiolabeled ECL1715 cDNA.
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The expression of D1 and D3 mRNA in chicken liver during embryonic
development was determined by Northern analysis of total RNA isolated
from liver samples between E14 and C1 using 32P-labeled
probes from either ECL1711 or ECL1715 cDNA (Figs. 9
and 10
).
Densitometric analysis of these blots revealed that D1 mRNA levels
remained relatively constant during embryonic development. In contrast,
D3 mRNA levels showed a modest increase from E14 to E17 and a strong
decrease thereafter to almost undetectable levels on E20IP. The mean D3
mRNA levels (n = 2) and mean D3 activities (n = 45) were
highly significantly correlated (r = 0.977; P <
0.001).
 |
Discussion
|
|---|
Our findings clearly show that ECL1711 cDNA and ECL1715 cDNA are
near-full-length clones coding for chicken D1 and D3, respectively. The
amino acid sequence deduced from the ATG-equipped ECL1711M mutant shows
high homology with D1 of rat (60%), human (62%), and dog (58%),
including an in-frame TGA codon at position 127. RNA secondary
structure prediction (25) also reveals a putative SECIS element in the
3'UTR of ECL1711M (30, 31, 32). This SECIS element is essential for Sec
incorporation at UGA, which otherwise functions as a stop codon
(30, 31, 32). Although we have not directly demonstrated that the enzyme
encoded by ECL1711 cDNA is a selenoprotein, the high homology among the
different deiodinases around the UGA codon and the presence of a 3'UTR
SECIS element strongly suggest that this UGA codon is not a stop codon,
but, instead, encodes Sec. Furthermore, expression experiments in COS-1
cells showed that ECL1711M cDNA codes for an enzyme with identical
substrate specificity (rT3 >
T3S > T4 >
T3) and sensitivity to inhibitors (GTG >
PTU
IAc) as native chicken D1. The conclusion that ECL1711M is
derived from chicken D1 mRNA is also supported by the finding that
recombinant and native chicken D1 show identical Km values
for rT3 (0.26 µM), which is similar
to values found for rat (33) and human (34) D1. Since the completion of
our study, an expressed sequence tag (EST) cloned from chicken T cells
was entered in the GenBank/EMBL Data Bank (accession no. AA495711) with
an almost identical nucleotide sequence as ECL1711. The deduced protein
is six amino acids shorter at the N-terminus than ECL1711M and has Ala
instead of Thr at position 37 and Leu instead of Met at position
131.
The conclusion that ECL1715 is a partial cDNA clone coding for chicken
D3 is based on indirect evidence, as expression studies were not
possible. The deduced amino acid sequence shows strong homology with
rat (62%), human (63%), X. laevis (72%), and R.
catesbeiana (71%) D3. The weak homology of ECL1715 with
mammalian, amphibian, and fish D2 sequences (3045%), in contrast to
the strong homology among these D2 sequences (6890%) (4, 7, 11, 14),
strongly suggests that ECL1715 does not encode chicken D2. This is
supported by the findings of Galton and Hiebert (35) and ourselves
(unpublished observations) that D2 activity is not expressed in
embryonic chicken liver. Finally, the strong correlation between
hepatic D3 activity and ECL1715-hybridizing mRNA expression during
embryonic development represents convincing evidence that ECL1715 is a
partial cDNA clone coding for chicken D3.
The availability of chicken D1 and D3 cDNA clones enables the detailed
investigation of the regulation of these enzymes under different
physiological conditions and in different developmental stages. Birds,
in general, and chickens, in particular, are excellent models for
studying the role of thyroid hormones in development. In contrast to
mammals, which experience intrauterine development, the chicken embryo
develops in a closed compartment deprived of the influx of maternal
endocrine factors. Circulating thyroid hormone in the embryonic chicken
represents the remainder of what was deposited in the yolk before
laying (36) and, to increasing extents, hormone synthesized by the
embryo itself. During chicken embryonic development, important changes
occur in circulating thyroid hormone levels. Plasma
T3 levels increase dramatically at the moment of
pipping, when the embryo perforates the air chamber and switches from
allantoic to lung respiration, and remain high until hatching. These
data are in accordance with the work of Decuypere et al.
(16, 17) and Darras et al. (18). Plasma
T4 levels increase more gradually, reaching a
maximum at hatching. Whereas plasma T4 was not
correlated with hepatic D3 activity, a negative correlation was found
between plasma T3 and D3 activity. Similar
results by Borges et al. (37) and Darras et al.
(18) suggest that the rise in plasma T3 in
embryonic chickens at the end of incubation is at least in part caused
by a decreased breakdown due to the decrease in hepatic D3 activity. In
recent years it has become clear that this decrease in hepatic D3
activity is at least in part caused by the simultaneous increase in
plasma GH (19, 20). It is also interesting to point out that hepatic D1
expression is positively correlated with both plasma
T3 and T4 during embryonic
development. Although it is unlikely that the prohormone
T4 directly induces D1 expression, the positive
correlation between plasma T3 and D1 activity is
a true "chicken and egg" problem, as T3 is
not only a product but also a stimulator of D1 expression, at least in
rats (38).
These results demonstrate that iodothyronine deiodinases, especially
hepatic D3, are acutely regulated during embryonic development. To find
out whether this regulation occurs at the transcriptional or the
translational level, we decided to investigate D1 and D3 mRNA
expression in chicken liver. We did not standardize D1 and D3 mRNA
levels relative to actin or GAPDH mRNA levels, because expression of
the latter may change significantly during embryonic development.
However, it should be stressed that D1 and D3 mRNA levels were
determined in the same RNA preparations, indicating completely
different ontogenic patterns. Whereas hepatic D1 activity gradually
increases during embryonic development from E14 onward, the D1 mRNA
level remains relatively constant. As D1 activity and mRNA level are
standardized relative to microsomal protein and total RNA levels,
respectively, it cannot be firmly concluded that the ratio of D1
activity to mRNA changes and, thus, that regulation takes place at the
translational or posttranslational level. In contrast, hepatic D3
activity and D3 mRNA level were very strongly correlated; both showed
an increase between E14 and E17, followed by a dramatic decrease. These
results strongly suggest that the regulation of hepatic D3 expression
during embryonic development occurs predominantly at the
pretranslational level. Whether these changes are due to alterations in
transcription rate or mRNA stability requires further investigation.
Also, the role of GH in this mechanism remains to be elucidated.
In conclusion, 1) ECL1711 and ECL1715 are near-full-length clones for
chicken D1 and D3, respectively; 2) both cDNAs contain an in-frame TGA
codon and a consensus SECIS element in the 3'UTR, making them members
of the Sec-containing iodothyronine deiodinase family; and 3) the
regulation of hepatic D3 expression in the chick during embryonic
development largely represents a pretranslational mechanism.
 |
Acknowledgments
|
|---|
We thank Mr. R. Thoma (Formula, Berlin, Germany) and Dr. G.
Decker (Hennig Berlin, Berlin, Germany) for the supply of inner
ring-labeled T3.
 |
Footnotes
|
|---|
1 This work was supported by the Netherlands Organization of
Scientific Research NWO (Grant 90340-168), the Belgian National
Fund for Scientific Research (FKFO 2.0114.94), and Onderzoeksraad K.U.
Leuven (project OT/94/11). The nucleotide sequences reported in this
paper have been submitted to the GenBank/EMBL Data Bank with accession
numbers Y11110 and Y11273. 
2 These authors contributed equally to this work. 
3 Sanders, J. P., S. Van der Geyten, E.
Kaptein, V. M. Darras, E. R. Kühn, J. L. Leonard,
and T. J. Visser, manuscript in preparation. 
Received June 2, 1997.
 |
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