Cloning and expression analysis of a novel salicylate suppressible gene, Hs-CUL-3, a member of cullin/Cdc53 family

By using a mRNA differential display technique to search for salicylate suppressible genes, we identified a cDNA in human foreskin fibroblasts, which by Gen-Bank(TM) DNA data base search shows sequence homology to the recently reported cullin/Cdc53 (CUL) family genes, especially CUL-3, We have cloned the full-length human CUL-3 (Hs-CUL-3) cDNA, It encodes a 768-amino acid polypeptide and has a predicted molecular weight of 88,939, The amino acid sequence of Hs-CUL-3 shows 46% homology to that of its Caenorhabditis elegans ortholog, Ce-CUL-3, and 27 and 23% to that of Hs-CUL-1 and Hs-CUL-2, respectively. Northern blot analysis showed that phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate increased the expression of Hs-CUL-3 mRNA in a concentration- and time-dependent manner, and this increase was inhibited by sodium salicylate, Hs-CUL-3 widely expressed in human tissues and its expression in cultured COLO205 colon cancer cells was increased when compared with that in normal colon cells, It is Likely that Hs-CUL-3 is involved in cell proliferation control.