Expression of beta 1-4 N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase gene in the developing rat brain and retina: mRNA, protein immunoreactivity and enzyme activity

DANIOTTI J.L.; ROSALES FRITZ V.; MARTINA J. A.; FURUKAWA K.; MACCIONI H.J.F.

PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 1997 vol. 31 p. 11 - 11

he developmental pattern of expression of the UDP-GalNAc:GM3 N-acetylgalactosaminyltransferase (GalNAc-T) gene was examined in the rat brain and retina. A GalNAc-T cDNA cloned from a rat olfactory bulb cDNA library was used as a probe for Northern blot and in situ hybridization experiments and a rabbit polyclonal antibody to rat GalNAc-T peptide was used for Western blot analysis. In Northern blot experiments, a single approximately 3 kb transcript was detected both in brain and retina. In brain, the abundance of this transcript increased from E15 to PN1-5 and then declined while, in retina, it increased steadily from PN1 to PN13-24. The developmental trends of GalNAc-T mRNA expression, GalNAc-T immunoreactive protein and GalNAc-T activity were comparable in brain. In retina, however, GalNAc-T activity and GalNAc-T peptide immunoreactivity followed developmental patterns that were similar between them and different from that of the specific mRNA. Results suggest that post-transcriptio