Submitted June 8, 2006
Accepted February 28, 2007
EGO, a novel, non-coding RNA gene, regulates eosinophil granule protein transcript expression
Lori A. Wagner*, Clarissa J Christensen, Diane M Dunn, Gerald J Spangrude, Ann Georgelas, Linda L Kelley, Michael Sean Esplin, Robert B Weiss, and Gerald J Gleich
Department of Dermatology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
Human Genetics, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
Department of Medicine, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
Departments of Obstetrics and Gynecology, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, UT, United States
* Corresponding author; email: lori.wagner{at}hsc.utah.edu.
Gene expression profiling of early eosinophil development shows increased transcript levels of pro-inflammatory cytokines, chemokines, transcription factors and a novel gene, EGO (Eosinophil Granule Ontogeny). EGO is nested within an intron of the inositol triphosphate receptor type 1 (ITPR1) gene and is conserved at the nucleotide level; however, the largest open reading frame (ORF) is 86 amino acids. Sucrose density gradients show that EGO is not associated with ribosomes and therefore, is a non-coding RNA (ncRNA). EGO transcript levels rapidly increase following interleukin-5 (IL-5) stimulation of CD34+ hematopoietic progenitors. EGO RNA is also highly expressed in human bone marrow and in mature eosinophils. RNA silencing of EGO results in decreased major basic protein (MBP) and eosinophil derived neurotoxin (EDN) mRNA expression in developing CD34+ hematopoietic progenitors in vitro and in a CD34+ cell line model. Therefore, EGO is a novel ncRNA gene expressed during eosinophil development and is necessary for normal MBP and EDN transcript expression.
