Structure of a mouse erythroid 5-aminolevulinate synthase gene and mapping of erythroid-specific DNAse I hypersensitive sites.

The enzyme 5-aminolevulinate synthase (ALA-S) catalyzes the first step in heme biosynthesis. In this study, the mouse erythroid gene has been cloned and analyzed in order to investigate the regulation of ALA-S expression during erythroid differentiation. The gene spans approximately kbp and consists of 11 exons and 10 introns. The first exon is 37 bp, non-coding, and followed by a 6kb intron. The mRNA capsite was mapped by primer extension and defines a promoter that contains no apparent TATA element. S1 nuclease analysis detects the presence at low levels of a 45 bp-deleted form of the ALA-S mRNA created by the use of an alternative splice site at the intron 2/exon 3 junction. Five DNAse I hypersensitive sites were detected in chromatin from uninduced and induced MEL cells. One site is at the promoter; the others are in the body of the gene. No significant differences were observed in the patterns or intensity of the hypersensitive sites in the uninduced and induced MEL cells, however, no sites in ALA-S were observed in NIH 3T3 cells or in deproteinized DNA. Thus, these sites are specific for erythroid chromatin but appear to be established at an earlier stage of differentiation than represented by the uninduced MEL cell.     

Characterization of a DNA binding activity in DNAse I hypersensitive site 4 of the human globin locus control region.

A portion of the beta-globin Locus Control Region (LCR), which included DNAse I hypersensitive site 4 (HS4), was analyzed for its interactions with nuclear extracts and its contribution to LCR activity in a functional assay. In gel retardation assays, a short fragment from HS4 formed complexes with nuclear extracts from both erythroid and nonerythroid cells, and a core protected sequence 5'GACTGGC3' was revealed by DNAse I protection and methylation interference studies. This sequence resembles the binding sites of CCAAT-family members. Purified CP-2 but not CP-1 was shown to bind this HS4 sequence in a gel shift reaction, suggesting that the HS4 binding activity shares some sequence specificity with the CCAAT-factor family. Utilizing a transient expression assay in murine erythroleukemia cells, steady-state RNA levels were measured from pairs of LCR constructs linked to distinguishable beta-globin reporter genes. A short DNA fragment from HS4 which included the binding site for this novel binding activity accounted for most of the contribution to high level expression made by the entire HS4 region.