Effect of 5-Fluorouracil on the Regulation of Zebrafish Thymidylate Synthase Gene Expression

Abstract

Thymidylate synthase (TS) is an important target in cancer therapy, which is a folate-dependent enyme, catalyzing the de novo synthesis of dUMP. In this report, the effect of 5-flurorouracil (5-FU) on the regulation of TS gene expression was estimated in zebrafish. The results showed 5-FU could significantly increase the TS expression in zebrafish embryos. However, TS mRNA level were remained unchanged. To determine the effect of 5-FU and 5-FdUMP on translation of TS mRNA, a rabbit reticulocyte lysate translation system was used. Addition of 5-FU, not inhibited the translation of TS mRNA. While addition of 5-FdUMP, completely repressed the translation of TS mRNA. Therefore, induced expression of thymidylate synthase by 5-FU in zebrafish occurred in translational level, not in transcriptional level. The findings demonstrated that zebrafish TS protein was able to bind to its own cogate mRNA and the 5-FU regulated TS in the translational level. This is the first time to confirm that the regulation of TS is affected by TS and its cognant mRNA interaction in the whole animal level.