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. 1991 Jun;11(6):3139–3147. doi: 10.1128/mcb.11.6.3139

In vitro analysis of the tissue plasminogen activator promoter reveals a GC box-binding activity present in murine brain but undetectable in kidney and liver.

L T Pecorino 1, A L Darrow 1, S Strickland 1
PMCID: PMC360162  PMID: 1710025

Abstract

Tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) mRNA levels are high in murine brain, lower in kidney, and undetectable in liver. Differences in t-PA mRNA levels are regulated in part at the transcriptional level. Brain, kidney, and liver nuclear extracts direct regulated transcription from the murine t-PA promoter in a manner that reflects the relative levels of t-PA gene expression in these tissues in vivo. Analysis of mutants has defined two GC box motifs as important elements for regulated transcription in vitro. Upon investigation of protein-DNA binding, we detected an activity in brain extracts which was not detected in kidney or liver extracts. An Sp1-like factor also binds to this region in all three tissue types. DNA interference experiments show that the brain-enriched binding activity and the Sp1-like factor contact the same GC-rich sequences. These studies provide additional evidence that brain-enriched DNA-binding activities can interact with sequences also recognized by ubiquitous transcription factors.

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