Ca2+/calmodulin regulation of prolactin gene expression.

Despite the extensive literature on the biological actions of Ca2+ and calmodulin, very little is known about their involvement in nuclear functions, e.g., regulation of specific gene expression. To date, the only genes other than prolactin and growth hormone shown to be regulated by perturbations in cell Ca2+ are those coding for two glucose-regulated proteins. However, there is a growing body of indirect evidence for nuclear functions of Ca2+ and calmodulin, and we suspect that other examples of Ca2+-regulated genes will emerge. We have described in this chapter several different experimental approaches which we have employed to examine first whether prolactin gene expression is regulated by changes in cell Ca2+ content, and then to begin searching for the components of the mechanism by which Ca2+ exerts its effects on the prolactin gene. The tentative identification of 56-kDa nuclear matrix protein as both a calmodulin-binding protein and a substrate of a Ca2+-calmodulin-dependent protein kinase suggests that NMP 56 may be a subunit of a multifunctional Ca2+-calmodulin-protein kinase. This enzyme was recently detected in the nuclear matrix fraction of neuronal nuclei, and was shown to phosphorylate a chromatin protein similar to high mobility group protein 17 (HMG 17). Since HMG 17 is associated with actively transcribed chromatin, its phosphorylation in GH3 cells might play a role in the Ca2+-calmodulin-dependent regulation of prolactin gene expression by hormones and growth factors.