Regulatory elements and transcriptional regulation by testosterone and retinoic acid of the rat nerve growth factor receptor promoter.

The low-affinity nerve growth factor receptor (LNGFR) is a membrane-associated glycoprotein which is thought to participate in some of the biological activities of nerve growth factor (NGF). Expression of the LNGFR gene is known to be regulated both during development and in response to various agents in cell culture. However, molecular mechanisms responsible for the regulation have not been described. We report here an analysis of a 4.8-kb sequence from the 5'-flanking region of the rat LNGFR gene. Several regulatory elements were identified in this region by transfection of plasmid constructs containing sequences from LNGFR fused to a bacterial cat reporter gene. The proximal part of the promoter region (0.4-kb) was shown to be sufficient to support cat expression in all cell types used. A silencer element located between -1.5 kb and -1.8 kb from the start of translation, as well as an enhancer element in more upstream regions of the promoter, were identified in the phaeochromocytoma cell line, PC12, and in the Sertoli cell line, TM4, that express the LNGFR gene. Treatment of TM4 cells with retinoic acid (RA) increases the level of LNGFR mRNA twofold, while testosterone treatment results in a tenfold decrease. Regions of the promoter responsive to testosterone and RA in TM4 cells were found at -610 to -860 bp and -1840 to -4800 bp upstream from the translation start codon, respectively. A RA-responsive element active in PC12 cells is located between bp -610 to -860 from the start codon.     

端粒、端粒酶结合因子hPinx1基因启动子的克隆及活性分析

目的：克隆端粒、端粒酶结合因子hPinx1基因的启动子,分析并鉴定其活性调控元件。方法：采用PCR技术从人肝癌细胞系HepG2基因组中扩增出hPinx1启动子,构建到萤光素酶报告基因载体pGL3-basic中,确定所扩增的DNA序列,在HepG2细胞中检测其活性。结果：克隆了hPinx1基因转录起始位点上游4661bp且序列正确;活性分析表明hPinx1启动子含有多个调控元件,其中核心序列位于530bp内,在1329-2174bp间存在正调控序列,在2174-4661 bp间存在负调控序列。结论：构建的hPinx1启动子具有活性,为hPinx1的功能研究提供了重要基础。