Skip to main content
PMC home page
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1988 Feb;85(3):836–840. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.3.836

Introns increase transcriptional efficiency in transgenic mice.

R L Brinster 1, J M Allen 1, R R Behringer 1, R E Gelinas 1, R D Palmiter 1
PMCID: PMC279650  PMID: 3422466

Abstract

Experiments were designed to test the effect of introns on gene expression in transgenic mice. Four different pairs of gene constructs, which were identical except that one member of each pair lacked all introns, were compared for expression of mRNA after introduction into the murine germ line by microinjection of fertilized eggs. The expression of two chimeric genes, made by fusing either the mouse metallothionein I or the rat elastase 1 promoter/enhancer to the rat growth hormone gene, was assayed in fetal liver or pancreas, respectively, while two natural genes, an oligonucleotide-marked mouse metallothionein I gene and the human beta-globin gene, were assayed in fetal liver. In each case there was, on average, 10- to 100-fold more mRNA produced from the intron-containing construct. Moreover, mRNA levels were proportional to the relative rates of transcription that were measured in isolated nuclei. However, when the expression of the two mouse metallothionein I gene-based constructs was tested after transfection into cultured cells, little difference was observed. These observations suggest that introns play a role in facilitating transcription of microinjected genes and that this effect may be manifest only on genes exposed to developmental influences.

Full text

PDF
836

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Banerji J., Olson L., Schaffner W. A lymphocyte-specific cellular enhancer is located downstream of the joining region in immunoglobulin heavy chain genes. Cell. 1983 Jul;33(3):729–740. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90015-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Barta A., Richards R. I., Baxter J. D., Shine J. Primary structure and evolution of rat growth hormone gene. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1981 Aug;78(8):4867–4871. doi: 10.1073/pnas.78.8.4867. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Behringer R. R., Hammer R. E., Brinster R. L., Palmiter R. D., Townes T. M. Two 3' sequences direct adult erythroid-specific expression of human beta-globin genes in transgenic mice. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Oct;84(20):7056–7060. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.20.7056. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Breitbart R. E., Nguyen H. T., Medford R. M., Destree A. T., Mahdavi V., Nadal-Ginard B. Intricate combinatorial patterns of exon splicing generate multiple regulated troponin T isoforms from a single gene. Cell. 1985 May;41(1):67–82. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90062-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Brinster R. L., Chen H. Y., Trumbauer M. E., Yagle M. K., Palmiter R. D. Factors affecting the efficiency of introducing foreign DNA into mice by microinjecting eggs. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Jul;82(13):4438–4442. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.13.4438. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Brinster R. L., Palmiter R. D. Introduction of genes into the germ line of animals. Harvey Lect. 1984 1985;80:1–38. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Carlock L., Jones N. C. Synthesis of an unspliced cytoplasmic message by an adenovirus 5 deletion mutant. Nature. 1981 Dec 10;294(5841):572–574. doi: 10.1038/294572a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Chambon P. Summary: the molecular biology of the eukaryotic genome is coming of age. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1978;42(Pt 2):1209–1234. doi: 10.1101/sqb.1978.042.01.122. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Chee P. P., Klassy R. C., Slightom J. L. Expression of a bean storage protein 'phaseolin minigene' in foreign plant tissues. Gene. 1986;41(1):47–57. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(86)90266-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Collins F. S., Weissman S. M. The molecular genetics of human hemoglobin. Prog Nucleic Acid Res Mol Biol. 1984;31:315–462. doi: 10.1016/s0079-6603(08)60382-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Durnam D. M., Palmiter R. D. A practical approach for quantitating specific mRNAs by solution hybridization. Anal Biochem. 1983 Jun;131(2):385–393. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(83)90188-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Durnam D. M., Perrin F., Gannon F., Palmiter R. D. Isolation and characterization of the mouse metallothionein-I gene. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1980 Nov;77(11):6511–6515. doi: 10.1073/pnas.77.11.6511. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Eissenberg J. C., Cartwright I. L., Thomas G. H., Elgin S. C. Selected topics in chromatin structure. Annu Rev Genet. 1985;19:485–536. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.19.120185.002413. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Gilbert W. Why genes in pieces? Nature. 1978 Feb 9;271(5645):501–501. doi: 10.1038/271501a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Gillies S. D., Morrison S. L., Oi V. T., Tonegawa S. A tissue-specific transcription enhancer element is located in the major intron of a rearranged immunoglobulin heavy chain gene. Cell. 1983 Jul;33(3):717–728. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90014-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Glanville N., Durnam D. M., Palmiter R. D. Structure of mouse metallothionein-I gene and its mRNA. Nature. 1981 Jul 16;292(5820):267–269. doi: 10.1038/292267a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Gross M. K., Kainz M. S., Merrill G. F. Introns are inconsequential to efficient formation of cellular thymidine kinase mRNA in mouse L cells. Mol Cell Biol. 1987 Dec;7(12):4576–4581. doi: 10.1128/mcb.7.12.4576. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Gruss P., Khoury G. Rescue of a splicing defective mutant by insertion of an heterologous intron. Nature. 1980 Aug 7;286(5773):634–637. doi: 10.1038/286634a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Gruss P., Lai C. J., Dhar R., Khoury G. Splicing as a requirement for biogenesis of functional 16S mRNA of simian virus 40. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1979 Sep;76(9):4317–4321. doi: 10.1073/pnas.76.9.4317. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Hamer D. H., Leder P. Splicing and the formation of stable RNA. Cell. 1979 Dec;18(4):1299–1302. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(79)90240-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Hamer D. H. Metallothionein. Annu Rev Biochem. 1986;55:913–951. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.55.070186.004405. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Hammer R. E., Swift G. H., Ornitz D. M., Quaife C. J., Palmiter R. D., Brinster R. L., MacDonald R. J. The rat elastase I regulatory element is an enhancer that directs correct cell specificity and developmental onset of expression in transgenic mice. Mol Cell Biol. 1987 Aug;7(8):2956–2967. doi: 10.1128/mcb.7.8.2956. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Lefevre C., Imagawa M., Dana S., Grindlay J., Bodner M., Karin M. Tissue-specific expression of the human growth hormone gene is conferred in part by the binding of a specific trans-acting factor. EMBO J. 1987 Apr;6(4):971–981. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1987.tb04847.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Leff S. E., Rosenfeld M. G., Evans R. M. Complex transcriptional units: diversity in gene expression by alternative RNA processing. Annu Rev Biochem. 1986;55:1091–1117. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.55.070186.005303. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. McKnight G. S., Palmiter R. D. Transcriptional regulation of the ovalbumin and conalbumin genes by steroid hormones in chick oviduct. J Biol Chem. 1979 Sep 25;254(18):9050–9058. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Mulligan R. C., Berg P. Expression of a bacterial gene in mammalian cells. Science. 1980 Sep 19;209(4463):1422–1427. doi: 10.1126/science.6251549. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Mulvihill E. R., Palmiter R. D. Relationship of nuclear estrogen receptor levels to induction of ovalbumin and conalbumin mRNA in chick oviduct. J Biol Chem. 1977 Mar 25;252(6):2060–2068. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Nelson C., Crenshaw E. B., 3rd, Franco R., Lira S. A., Albert V. R., Evans R. M., Rosenfeld M. G. Discrete cis-active genomic sequences dictate the pituitary cell type-specific expression of rat prolactin and growth hormone genes. Nature. 1986 Aug 7;322(6079):557–562. doi: 10.1038/322557a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Ng R., Domdey H., Larson G., Rossi J. J., Abelson J. A test for intron function in the yeast actin gene. Nature. 1985 Mar 14;314(6007):183–184. doi: 10.1038/314183a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Ornitz D. M., Palmiter R. D., Hammer R. E., Brinster R. L., Swift G. H., MacDonald R. J. Specific expression of an elastase-human growth hormone fusion gene in pancreatic acinar cells of transgenic mice. Nature. 1985 Feb 14;313(6003):600–602. doi: 10.1038/313600a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Palmiter R. D., Brinster R. L. Germ-line transformation of mice. Annu Rev Genet. 1986;20:465–499. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.20.120186.002341. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Palmiter R. D., Chen H. Y., Brinster R. L. Differential regulation of metallothionein-thymidine kinase fusion genes in transgenic mice and their offspring. Cell. 1982 Jun;29(2):701–710. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(82)90186-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Palmiter R. D., Norstedt G., Gelinas R. E., Hammer R. E., Brinster R. L. Metallothionein-human GH fusion genes stimulate growth of mice. Science. 1983 Nov 18;222(4625):809–814. doi: 10.1126/science.6356363. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Richard-Foy H., Hager G. L. Sequence-specific positioning of nucleosomes over the steroid-inducible MMTV promoter. EMBO J. 1987 Aug;6(8):2321–2328. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1987.tb02507.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Searle P. F., Stuart G. W., Palmiter R. D. Building a metal-responsive promoter with synthetic regulatory elements. Mol Cell Biol. 1985 Jun;5(6):1480–1489. doi: 10.1128/mcb.5.6.1480. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Stuart G. W., Searle P. F., Chen H. Y., Brinster R. L., Palmiter R. D. A 12-base-pair DNA motif that is repeated several times in metallothionein gene promoters confers metal regulation to a heterologous gene. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Dec;81(23):7318–7322. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.23.7318. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Südhof T. C., Russell D. W., Goldstein J. L., Brown M. S., Sanchez-Pescador R., Bell G. I. Cassette of eight exons shared by genes for LDL receptor and EGF precursor. Science. 1985 May 17;228(4701):893–895. doi: 10.1126/science.3873704. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  38. Townes T. M., Lingrel J. B., Chen H. Y., Brinster R. L., Palmiter R. D. Erythroid-specific expression of human beta-globin genes in transgenic mice. EMBO J. 1985 Jul;4(7):1715–1723. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1985.tb03841.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  39. Treisman R., Novak U., Favaloro J., Kamen R. Transformation of rat cells by an altered polyoma virus genome expressing only the middle-T protein. Nature. 1981 Aug 13;292(5824):595–600. doi: 10.1038/292595a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES