The myosin light chain enhancer and the skeletal actin promoter share a binding site for factors involved in muscle-specific gene expression.

The myosin light chain (MLC) 1/3 enhancer (MLC enhancer), identified at the 3' end of the skeletal MLC1/3 locus, contains a sequence motif that is homologous to a protein-binding site of the skeletal muscle alpha-actin promoter. Gel shift, competition, and footprint assays demonstrated that a CArG motif in the MLC enhancer binds the proteins MAPF1 and MAPF2, previously identified as factors interacting with the muscle regulatory element of the skeletal alpha-actin promoter. Transient transfection assays with constructs containing the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter gene demonstrated that a 115-bp subfragment of the MLC enhancer is able to exert promoter activity when provided with a silent nonmuscle TATA box. A point mutation at the MAPF1/2-binding site interferes with factor binding and abolishes the promoter activity of the 115-bp fragment. The observation that an oligonucleotide encompassing the MAPF1/2 site of the MLC enhancer alone cannot serve as a promoter element suggests that additional factor-binding sites are necessary for this function. The finding that MAPF1 and MAPF2 recognize similar sequence motifs in two muscle genes, simultaneously activated during muscle differentiation, implies that these factors may have a role in coordinating the activation of contractile protein gene expression during myogenesis.     

Characterization of two distinct positive cis-acting elements in the mouse alpha 1 (III) collagen promoter

We have identified two distinct sequence elements in the mouse alpha 1(III) collagen promoter which are protected from DNase I digestion by the binding of factors present in crude nuclear extracts of NIH 3T3 fibroblasts. Small substitution mutations were introduced into these promoter elements and shown by the gel retardation (gel mobility shift) and DNase I protection assays to decrease or eliminate factor binding to the mutated element but not to the remaining wild-type element, indicating that two distinct factors recognize these separate promoter regions. Region A appears to bind a factor related to the Jun/AP-1 protein, whereas the factor binding to region B remains as yet unidentified. Mutagenesis of either region decreased the activity of the alpha 1(III) collagen promoter in DNA transfection assays by about 3-fold for the A region (located between - 122 and - 106) and about 5-fold for the B region (located between -83 and -61). These results indicate that regions A and B in the mouse alpha 1(III) collagen promoter are positive cis-regulatory elements, independently binding two distinct trans-activating factors.     

M－CAT盒在鸡AchR γ－亚基基因转录激活中的作用

原代培养鸡胚肌细胞瞬时转染结合氯霉素乙酰基转移酶水平测试表明：鸡ＡＣｈＲγ－亚基基因缺失近起始点一对Ｅ盒（ＣＡＮＮＴＧ）的－２０４／－５０片段与含Ｅ盒的－２０４／＋３６片段一样,均可独立激活ｔｋ启动子的转录活性,证明了该片段的增强子样作用,利用鸡胚肌肉核抽提物与－２０４／－５０片段进行胶阻滞分析,检出了明显的迁移位移条带的发生;迁移条带不仅可被未标记的－２０４／－５０片段消除,而且还可被含Ｍ－ＣＡＴ盒（ＣＡＴＴＣＣＴ）的２３ｂｐ寡核苷酸竞争阻断,说明胶阻滞分析中出现的迁移条带系由核内因子特异结合－２０４／－５０片段中的Ｍ－ＣＡＴ序列所致,上述结果证明,Ｍ－ＣＡＴ盒对鸡ＡＣｈＲγ－亚基基因－２０４／－５０片段的转录激活功能起作用。