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. 1990 Sep;10(9):4690–4700. doi: 10.1128/mcb.10.9.4690

Regulatory elements controlling pituitary-specific expression of the human prolactin gene.

B Peers 1, M L Voz 1, P Monget 1, M Mathy-Hartert 1, M Berwaer 1, A Belayew 1, J A Martial 1
PMCID: PMC361059  PMID: 2388622

Abstract

We have performed transfection and DNase I footprinting experiments to investigate pituitary-specific expression of the human prolactin (hPRL) gene. When fused to the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene, 5,000 base pairs of the 5'-flanking sequences of the hPRL gene were able to drive high cat gene expression in prolactin-expressing GH3B6 cells specifically. Deletion analysis indicated that this pituitary-specific expression was controlled by three main positive regulatory regions. The first was located just upstream from the TATA box between coordinates -40 and -250 (proximal region). We have previously shown that three motifs of this region bind the pituitary-specific Pit-1 factor. The second positive region was located in the vicinity of coordinates -1300 to -1750 (distal region). DNase I footprinting assays revealed that eight DNA motifs of this distal region bound protein Pit-1 and that two other motifs were recognized by ubiquitous factors, one of which seems to belong to the AP-1 (jun) family. The third positive region was located further upstream, between -3500 and -5000 (superdistal region). This region appears to enhance transcription only in the presence of the distal region.

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