Skip to main content
Nucleic Acids Research logoLink to Nucleic Acids Research
. 1989 Feb 11;17(3):939–953. doi: 10.1093/nar/17.3.939

Liver cell specific gene transcription in vitro: the promoter elements HP1 and TATA box are necessary and sufficient to generate a liver-specific promoter.

G U Ryffel 1, W Kugler 1, U Wagner 1, M Kaling 1
PMCID: PMC331714  PMID: 2922278

Abstract

The hepatocyte-specific promoter element HP1, which is present in several genes specifically expressed in the liver, is active in an in vitro transcription system. The liver-specificity is retained in the in vitro system, as the activity is found in extracts of rat liver or hepatoma cells but is absent in an L-cell extract. Mutational analysis identifies HP1 as a 13 bp element: Two point mutations abolish the function of HP1. This inactivation is correlated with a reduced binding affinity of the transcription factors recognizing HP1. Two other mutants, which reduce the activity of HP1, bind the transcription factors with an affinity identical to the wildtype sequence. This suggests that the binding of the transcription factors is not sufficient for activation of HP1 dependent transcription. The function of HP1 depends on the presence of a TATA box within a distance of some 70 bp. Various TATA sequences are functional and no stereospecific alignment between HP1 and the TATA box is required.

Full text

PDF
939

Images in this article

Selected References

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

  1. Bodner M., Karin M. A pituitary-specific trans-acting factor can stimulate transcription from the growth hormone promoter in extracts of nonexpressing cells. Cell. 1987 Jul 17;50(2):267–275. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90222-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Breathnach R., Chambon P. Organization and expression of eucaryotic split genes coding for proteins. Annu Rev Biochem. 1981;50:349–383. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.50.070181.002025. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Brunel F., Ochoa A., Schaeffer E., Boissier F., Guillou Y., Cereghini S., Cohen G. N., Zakin M. M. Interactions of DNA-binding proteins with the 5' region of the human transferrin gene. J Biol Chem. 1988 Jul 25;263(21):10180–10185. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Cereghini S., Blumenfeld M., Yaniv M. A liver-specific factor essential for albumin transcription differs between differentiated and dedifferentiated rat hepatoma cells. Genes Dev. 1988 Aug;2(8):957–974. doi: 10.1101/gad.2.8.957. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Cereghini S., Raymondjean M., Carranca A. G., Herbomel P., Yaniv M. Factors involved in control of tissue-specific expression of albumin gene. Cell. 1987 Aug 14;50(4):627–638. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90036-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Chen E. Y., Seeburg P. H. Supercoil sequencing: a fast and simple method for sequencing plasmid DNA. DNA. 1985 Apr;4(2):165–170. doi: 10.1089/dna.1985.4.165. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Chodosh L. A., Carthew R. W., Morgan J. G., Crabtree G. R., Sharp P. A. The adenovirus major late transcription factor activates the rat gamma-fibrinogen promoter. Science. 1987 Oct 30;238(4827):684–688. doi: 10.1126/science.3672119. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Cohen R. S., Meselson M. Periodic interactions of heat shock transcriptional elements. Nature. 1988 Apr 28;332(6167):856–858. doi: 10.1038/332856a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Courtois G., Morgan J. G., Campbell L. A., Fourel G., Crabtree G. R. Interaction of a liver-specific nuclear factor with the fibrinogen and alpha 1-antitrypsin promoters. Science. 1987 Oct 30;238(4827):688–692. doi: 10.1126/science.3499668. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. De Simone V., Ciliberto G., Hardon E., Paonessa G., Palla F., Lundberg L., Cortese R. Cis- and trans-acting elements responsible for the cell-specific expression of the human alpha 1-antitrypsin gene. EMBO J. 1987 Sep;6(9):2759–2766. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1987.tb02570.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Dierich A., Gaub M. P., LePennec J. P., Astinotti D., Chambon P. Cell-specificity of the chicken ovalbumin and conalbumin promoters. EMBO J. 1987 Aug;6(8):2305–2312. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1987.tb02505.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Döbbeling U., Ross K., Klein-Hitpass L., Morley C., Wagner U., Ryffel G. U. A cell-specific activator in the Xenopus A2 vitellogenin gene: promoter elements functioning with rat liver nuclear extracts. EMBO J. 1988 Aug;7(8):2495–2501. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1988.tb03096.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Glass C. K., Franco R., Weinberger C., Albert V. R., Evans R. M., Rosenfeld M. G. A c-erb-A binding site in rat growth hormone gene mediates trans-activation by thyroid hormone. Nature. 1987 Oct 22;329(6141):738–741. doi: 10.1038/329738a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Gorski K., Carneiro M., Schibler U. Tissue-specific in vitro transcription from the mouse albumin promoter. Cell. 1986 Dec 5;47(5):767–776. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90519-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Hardon E. M., Frain M., Paonessa G., Cortese R. Two distinct factors interact with the promoter regions of several liver-specific genes. EMBO J. 1988 Jun;7(6):1711–1719. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1988.tb03000.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Heard J. M., Herbomel P., Ott M. O., Mottura-Rollier A., Weiss M., Yaniv M. Determinants of rat albumin promoter tissue specificity analyzed by an improved transient expression system. Mol Cell Biol. 1987 Jul;7(7):2425–2434. doi: 10.1128/mcb.7.7.2425. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Heberlein U., Tjian R. Temporal pattern of alcohol dehydrogenase gene transcription reproduced by Drosophila stage-specific embryonic extracts. Nature. 1988 Feb 4;331(6155):410–415. doi: 10.1038/331410a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Klein-Hitpass L., Kaling M., Ryffel G. U. Synergism of closely adjacent estrogen-responsive elements increases their regulatory potential. J Mol Biol. 1988 Jun 5;201(3):537–544. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(88)90635-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Kugler W., Wagner U., Ryffel G. U. Tissue-specificity of liver gene expression: a common liver-specific promoter element. Nucleic Acids Res. 1988 Apr 25;16(8):3165–3174. doi: 10.1093/nar/16.8.3165. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Lichtsteiner S., Wuarin J., Schibler U. The interplay of DNA-binding proteins on the promoter of the mouse albumin gene. Cell. 1987 Dec 24;51(6):963–973. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90583-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Monaci P., Nicosia A., Cortese R. Two different liver-specific factors stimulate in vitro transcription from the human alpha 1-antitrypsin promoter. EMBO J. 1988 Jul;7(7):2075–2087. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1988.tb03047.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Myers R. M., Tilly K., Maniatis T. Fine structure genetic analysis of a beta-globin promoter. Science. 1986 May 2;232(4750):613–618. doi: 10.1126/science.3457470. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Ruden D. M., Ma J., Ptashne M. No strict alignment is required between a transcriptional activator binding site and the "TATA box" of a yeast gene. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Jun;85(12):4262–4266. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.12.4262. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Sawadogo M., Roeder R. G. Factors involved in specific transcription by human RNA polymerase II: analysis by a rapid and quantitative in vitro assay. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Jul;82(13):4394–4398. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.13.4394. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Scheidereit C., Heguy A., Roeder R. G. Identification and purification of a human lymphoid-specific octamer-binding protein (OTF-2) that activates transcription of an immunoglobulin promoter in vitro. Cell. 1987 Dec 4;51(5):783–793. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90101-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Schorpp M., Döbbeling U., Wagner U., Ryffel G. U. 5'-flanking and 5'-proximal exon regions of the two Xenopus albumin genes. Deletion analysis of constitutive promoter function. J Mol Biol. 1988 Jan 5;199(1):83–93. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(88)90380-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Schorpp M., Kugler W., Wagner U., Ryffel G. U. Hepatocyte-specific promoter element HP1 of the Xenopus albumin gene interacts with transcriptional factors of mammalian hepatocytes. J Mol Biol. 1988 Jul 20;202(2):307–320. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(88)90460-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Scott R. W., Tilghman S. M. Transient expression of a mouse alpha-fetoprotein minigene: deletion analyses of promoter function. Mol Cell Biol. 1983 Jul;3(7):1295–1309. doi: 10.1128/mcb.3.7.1295. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Shapiro D. J., Sharp P. A., Wahli W. W., Keller M. J. A high-efficiency HeLa cell nuclear transcription extract. DNA. 1988 Jan-Feb;7(1):47–55. doi: 10.1089/dna.1988.7.47. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Shen R. F., Li Y., Sifers R. N., Wang H., Hardick C., Tsai S. Y., Woo S. L. Tissue-specific expression of the human alpha 1-antitrypsin gene is controlled by multiple cis-regulatory elements. Nucleic Acids Res. 1987 Oct 26;15(20):8399–8415. doi: 10.1093/nar/15.20.8399. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Simon M. C., Fisch T. M., Benecke B. J., Nevins J. R., Heintz N. Definition of multiple, functionally distinct TATA elements, one of which is a target in the hsp70 promoter for E1A regulation. Cell. 1988 Mar 11;52(5):723–729. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90410-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Takahashi K., Vigneron M., Matthes H., Wildeman A., Zenke M., Chambon P. Requirement of stereospecific alignments for initiation from the simian virus 40 early promoter. Nature. 1986 Jan 9;319(6049):121–126. doi: 10.1038/319121a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Walker P., Germond J. E., Brown-Luedi M., Givel F., Wahli W. Sequence homologies in the region preceding the transcription initiation site of the liver estrogen-responsive vitellogenin and apo-VLDLII genes. Nucleic Acids Res. 1984 Nov 26;12(22):8611–8626. doi: 10.1093/nar/12.22.8611. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Wirth T., Staudt L., Baltimore D. An octamer oligonucleotide upstream of a TATA motif is sufficient for lymphoid-specific promoter activity. Nature. 1987 Sep 10;329(6135):174–178. doi: 10.1038/329174a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Nucleic Acids Research are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES