Differential regulation of the promoter activity of the mouse UCP2 and UCP3 genes by MyoD and myogenin

UCP2 and UCP3 are members of the uncoupling protein family, which may play roles in energy homeostasis. In order to determine the regulation of the predominant expression of UCP3 in skeletal muscle, the effects of differentiation and myogenic regulatory factors on the promoter activities of the mouse UCP2 and UCP3 genes were studied. Reporter plasmids, containing approximately 3 kb of the 5'-upstream region of the mouse UCP2 and UCP3 genes, were transfected into C2C12 myoblasts, which were then induced to differentiate. Differentiation positively induced the reporter expression about 20-fold via the UCP3 promoter, but by only 2-fold via the UCP2 promoter. C2C12 myoblasts were cotransfected with expression vectors for myogenin and/or MyoD as well as reporter constructs. The simultaneous expression of myogenin and MyoD caused an additional 20-fold increase in the reporter expression via the UCP3 promoter, but only a weak effect via the UCP2 promoter. In L6 myoblasts, only MyoD activated the UCP3 promoter, but in 3T3-L1 cells neither factor activated the UCP3 promoter, indicating that additional cofactors are required, which are present only in C2C12 myoblasts. The expression of UCP2 and UCP3 is differentially regulated during muscle differentiation due to the different responsiveness of their promoter regions to myogenin and MyoD.