Mark G. Erlander

Two genes encode distinct glutamate decarboxylases

gamma-Aminobutyric acid (GABA) is the most widely distributed known inhibitory neurotransmitter in the vertebrate brain. GABA also serves regulatory and trophic roles in several other organs, including the pancreas. The brain contains two forms of the GABA synthetic enzyme glutamate decarboxylase (GAD), which differ in molecular size, amino acid sequence, antigenicity, cellular and subcellular location, and interaction with the GAD cofactor pyridoxal phosphate. These forms, GAD65 and GAD67, derive from two genes. The distinctive properties of the two GADs provide a substrate for understanding not only the multiple roles of GABA in the nervous system, but also the autoimmune response to GAD in insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus.

The structural and functional heterogeneity of glutamic acid decarboxylase: A review

Studies of the GABA-synthetic enzyme glutamate decarboxylase (glutamic acid decarboxylase; GAD; E.C.4.1.1.15) began in 1951 with the work of Roberts and his colleagues. Since then, many investigators have demonstrated the structural and functional heterogeneity of brain GAD. At least part of this heterogeneity derives from the existence of two GAD genes.

Glutamate decarboxylases in nonneural cells of rat testis and oviduct : differential expression of GAD65 and GAD67

Abstract: γ‐Aminobutyric acid (GABA) and its synthetic enzyme, glutamate decarboxylase (GAD), are not limited to the nervous system but are also found in nonneural tissues. The mammalian brain contains at least two forms of GAD (GAD67 and GAD65), which differ from each other in size, sequence, immunoreactivity, and their interaction with the cofactor pyridoxal 5′‐phosphate (PLP). We used cDNAs and antibodies specific to GAD65 and GAD67 to study the molecular identity of GADs in peripheral tissues. We detected GAD and GAD mRNAs in rat oviduct and testis. In oviduct, the size of GAD, its response to PLP, its immunoreactivity, and its hybridization to specific RNA and DNA probes all indicate the specific expression of the GAD65 gene. In contrast, rat testis expresses the GAD67 gene. The GAD in these two reproductive tissues is not in neurons but in nonneural cells. The localization of brain GAD and GAD mRNAs in the mucosal epithelial cells of the oviduct and in spermatocytes and spermatids of the testis shows that GAD is not limited to neurons and that GABA may have functions other than neurotransmission.

Postnatal expression of glutamate decarboxylases in developing rat cerebellum.

The recent identification of two genes encoding distinct forms of the GABA synthetic enzyme, glutamate decarboxylase (GAD), raises the possibility that varying expression of the two genes may contribute to the regulation of GABA production in individual neurons. We investigated the postnatal development the two forms of GAD in the rat cerebellum. The mRNA for GAD67, the form which is less dependent on the presence of the cofactor, pyridoxal phosphate (PLP), is present at birth in presumptive Purkinje cells and increases during postnatal development. GAD67 mRNA predominates in the cerebellum. The mRNA for GAD65, which displays marked PLP-dependence for enzyme activity, cannot be detected in cerebellar cortex by in situ hybridization until P7 in Purkinje cells, and later in other GABA neurons. In deep cerebellar nuclei, which mature prenatally, both forms of GAD mRNA can be detected at birth. The amounts of immunoreactice GAD and GAD enzyme activity parallel changes in mRNA levels. We suggest that the delayed appearance of GAD65 is coincident with synapse formation between GABA neurons and their targets during the second postnatal week. GAD67 mRNA may be present prior to synaptogenesis to produce GABA for trophic and metabolic functions.

Transient increase in expression of a glutamate decarboxylase (GAD) mRNA during the postnatal development of the rat striatum.

We recently reported that the mammalian brain has two forms of the GABA synthetic enzyme glutamate decarboxylase (GAD, E.C. 4.1.1.15), which are the products of two genes. The two forms, which we call GAD65 and GAD67, differ from each other in sequence, molecular size, subcellular distribution, and interactions with the cofactor pyridoxal phosphate (PLP), with GAD65 activity more dependent than that of GAD67 on the continued presence of exogenous PLP. The existence of two GAD genes suggests that individual GABA neurons may be subject to differential regulation of GABA production. We have examined the expression of these two forms of GAD during postnatal development of the rat striatum to determine whether different classes of GABA neurons selectively express different amounts of the two GAD mRNAs. Here we present evidence for a dramatic developmental difference in the expression of the two mRNAs during postnatal development of the rat striatum. Using in situ hybridization to the two GAD mRNAs, we observed a selective increase in GAD65 mRNA during the second postnatal week, at the time when striatal matrix neurons innervate the substantia nigra (SN). PLP-dependent enzyme activity in the midbrain increases in parallel with increased expression of GAD65 mRNA in the striatum. We hypothesize that the innervation of the SN by striatal neurons triggers an increase in GAD65. The changing ratios of GAD65 and GAD67 in the striatum may contribute to the well-documented changes in seizure susceptibility that occur in early life.

A Transcriptional Regulatory Element of the Gene Encoding the 67,000‐Mr Form of Human Glutamate Decarboxylase Is Similar to a Drosophila Regulatory Element

Abstract: We have isolated the 5’flanking DNA sequences of the human gene encoding the 67,000‐Mr form of glutamate decarboxylase (GAD67), the γ ‐aminobutyric acid synthetic enzyme. Transcription begins at a single promoter (P1) in adult brain but at two tandem promoters, P1 and P2, in fetal brain. P1, which is 3’to P2, resembles the promoter regions of many constitutively expressed genes, whereas P2 resembles a tissue‐specific promoter. P1 contains a 10‐base sequence (dec‐1) that closely matches the element I cis‐regulatory sequence identified in the promoter region of Drosophila 3,4‐dihydroxyphenylalanine decarboxylase. Gel shift and transient expression assays demonstrate that the dec‐1 sequence plays a role in the transcription of the human GAD67 gene.