Amino acids as regulators of gene expression: molecular mechanisms

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Abstract

Regulation of gene expression by nutrients in mammals is an important mechanism allowing them to adapt their physiological functions according to the supply of nutrient in the diet. It has been shown recently that amino acids are able to regulate by themselves the expression of numerous genes. CHOP, asparagine synthetase, and IGFBP-1 regulation following AA starvation will be described in this review with special interest in the molecular mechanisms involved.

Section snippets

Physiological importance of amino acids

Nine amino acids (valine, isoleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, histidine, and tryptophan) are indispensable in mammals, which means that they are not synthesized at all or not in sufficient quantity to meet cellular needs. Under particular conditions, some of the non-essential amino acids may become indispensable (they are then called conditionally indispensable). All the indispensable amino acids must then be supplied by the diet. Moreover, unlike other major

Molecular mechanisms

In mammalian cells, examples of genes induced following AA deprivation have been reported [13], [14]. However, very few of them have been studied at the molecular level. Three distinct mechanisms of regulation of gene expression have been identified so far: (1) a post-transcriptional component involving stabilization of mRNA under starved conditions has been shown for CHOP and asparagine synthetase (AS) but the molecular mechanisms involved in this process have not yet been identified [15], [16]

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