Pancreatic islet transcription factor and uses thereof
The present invention provides a pancreatic islet transcription factor and methods of treating and diagnosing diabetes.
1. An isolated nucleic acid encoding an IC-RFX polypeptide comprising SEQ ID NO:2.
2. The nucleic acid of claim 1 , wherein the nucleic acid comprises SEQ ID NO:1.
3. An isolated nucleic acid encoding a polypeptide comprising in the following order: a proline/glutamine rich domain, an RFX DNA binding domain (SEQ ID NO:4), an RFX B domain (SEQ ID NO:5), an RFX C domain (SEQ ID NO:6), a dimerization domain (SEQ ID NO:7) and a serine/threonine domain.
4. An expression cassette comprising a promoter operably linked to the nucleic acid of claim 1 or claim 3 .
5. An isolated host cell transfected with the nucleic acid of claim 1 or claim 3 .
6. The host cell of claim 5 , wherein the cell is a pancreatic islet cell.
7. The host cell of claim 6 , wherein the cell is an islet β-cell.
8. A method of detecting a polynucleotide in a subject, the method comprising
detecting in a sample from the subject a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide comprising in the following order: a proline/glutamine rich domain, an RFX DNA binding domain (SEQ ID NO:4), an RFX B domain (SEQ ID NO:5), an RFX C domain (SEQ ID NO:6), a dimerization domain (SEQ ID NO:7) and a serine/threonine domain.
9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the polynucleotide is detected by hybridization.
10. The method of claim 8 , wherein the polynucleotide is detected by amplification of the polynucleotide.
11. The method of claim 8 , wherein the nucleotide sequence of the polynucleotide is determined.
12. A method of introducing an expression cassette into an isolated cell, the method comprising,
introducing into the cell an expression cassette comprising a promoter operably linked to a polynucleotide encoding a polypeptide, the polypeptide comprising in the following order: a proline/glutamine rich domain, an RFX DNA binding domain (SEQ ID NO:4), an RFX B domain (SEQ ID NO:5), an FRX C domain (SEQ ID NO:6), a dimerization domain (SEQ ID NO:7) and a serine/threonine domain.
13. The method of claim 12 , wherein the polypeptide comprises SEQ ID NO:2.
14. The method of claim 12 , wherein the polynucleotide comprises SEQ ID NO:1.
15. The method of claim 12 , wherein the cell is a pancreatic islet cell.
16. The method of claim 12 , wherein the cell is an islet β-cell.