Disease relevance of beta-galactosidase

• A polyclonal antibody raised against an Escherichia coli beta-galactosidase-unc-22 fusion protein recognizes a polypeptide in nematode extracts that is between 500,000 and 600,000 daltons and labels the muscle A-band in indirect immunofluorescent microscopy [1].
• 3. OC 3.6 produced a 152-kD beta-galactosidase fusion protein that was recognized in dot-immunoblots by 54 of 55 sera from onchocerciasis patients (98%) [2].
• Following abdominal surgery on mice, control beta-galactosidase-encoding recombinant adenoviruses and IL-4-encoding adenoviruses were applied to the serosal surface of the jejunum, leading to infection of cells in the serosa and in the mesentery [3].
• A toxicity test using a transgenic strain of the free-living soil nematode Caenorhabditis elegans carrying a stress-inducible beta-galactosidase reporter has been adapted for use in soil biomonitoring [4].

High impact information on beta-galactosidase

• We examined beta-galactosidase expression patterns in C. elegans lines transformed with lacZ reporter gene fusions constructed using predicted C. elegans gene promoter regions [5].
• In addition, the beta-galactosidase reporter is expressed as early as the 28 cell stage of embryogenesis in specific blastomeres prior to their clonal commitment to body wall muscle [6].
• Repression appears to be controlled by several segments: Mutation of region III, region IV, and parts of region I in a mec-3-lacZ fusion results in beta-galactosidase expression in some non-mec-3-expressing sisters of mec-3-positive cells [7].
• Restriction fragments from each of these genes were cloned in the plasmid expression vector pUR288, producing fusion proteins between Escherichia coli beta-galactosidase and portions of the MHC rod domains of each gene [8].
• We show that expression of a functional unc-4-beta-galactosidase chimeric protein in VA motor neurons restores wild-type movement to an unc-4 mutant [9].

Biological context of beta-galactosidase

• Transcription of the hsp16-lacZ transgenes was totally heat-shock dependent and resulted in the rapid synthesis of detectable levels of beta-galactosidase [10].
• The beta-galactosidase expression pattern, directed by the pes-1/lacZ fusion through which this gene was cloned, has been determined precisely in terms of the embryonic cell lineage and has three components [11].
• In transgenic nematodes expressing a SPARC-lacZ fusion gene, beta-galactosidase staining accumulated in a striated pattern in the more heavily stained muscle cells along the body [12].

Anatomical context of beta-galactosidase

• The hsp16-48 promoter was shown to direct greater expression of beta-galactosidase in muscle and hypodermis, whereas the hsp16-41 promoter was more efficient in intestine and pharyngeal tissue [10].
• Staining for beta-galactosidase revealed PKC1B promoter activity exclusively in sensory neurons and interneurons [13].
• Stress-inducible beta-galactosidase expression in the gonad does not occur in all life stages, but is initiated late in the second or early in the third larval stage, when differentiation of gonadal tissues begins [14].
• In transgenic mice this region directed beta-galactosidase expression to the central nervous system on embryonic days 10.5-12.5 and to sites of endochondral ossification on embryonic days 12.5 and 13.5 in a pattern comparable to the endogenous expression pattern of mouse gli within these tissues [15].
• Transgenic C, elegans, which produce beta-galactosidase as a surrogate stress protein, reveal that captan-induced stress is localized mainly to muscle cells of the pharynx [16].

Associations of beta-galactosidase with chemical compounds

• The starvation-induced degradation of the beta-galactosidase reporter protein is quantitatively similar to that of two endogenous muscle proteins, arginine kinase and adenylate kinase [17].
• We observed that beta-glucosidase, hyaluronidase, beta-galactosidase, trypsin, protease, lipase, phospholipase C, soybean agglutinin, wheat germ agglutinin, and spermidine exerted inhibitory actions on those movements, which may be guided by the chemosensory function of this nematode [18].

Other interactions of beta-galactosidase

• The unc-13 gene was expressed in most, if not all, neurons when analyzed by using chimeric constructs consisting of the unc-13 promoter and green fluorescence protein or beta-galactosidase reporter gene [19].
• Cationised ferritin was then used to assess whether stress-induction was truly a surface reactive event; binding of cationised ferritin to the nematode surface also resulted in two-fold induction of beta-galactosidase activity [20].

Analytical, diagnostic and therapeutic context of beta-galactosidase

• In contrast, a two-fold increase in beta-galactosidase activity was seen in the presence of surface-reactive IgG (SR-IgG) which recognised surface components of between 6 and 40 kDa in western blot [20].

References