The transcriptional tissue specificity of the human pro alpha 1 (I) collagen gene is determined by a negative cis-regulatory element in the promoter.
The transcriptional activity of plasmid pCOL-KT, in which human pro alpha 1 (I) collagen gene upstream sequences up to -804 and most of the first intron (+474 to +1440) drive expression of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene [Thompson, Simkevich, Holness, Kang & Raghow (1991) J. Biol. Chem. 266, 2549-2556], was tested in a number of mesenchymal and non-mesenchymal cells. We observed that pCOL-KT was readily expressed in fibroblasts of human (IMR-90 and HFL-1), murine (NIH 3T3) and avian (SL-29) origin and in a human rhabdomyosarcoma cell line (A204), but failed to be expressed in human erythroleukaemia (K562) and rat pheochromocytoma (PC12) cells, indicating that the regulatory elements required for appropriate tissue-specific expression of the human pro alpha 1 (I) collagen gene were present in pCOL-KT. To delineate the nature of cis-acting sequences which determine the tissue specificity of pro alpha 1 (I) collagen gene expression, functional consequences of deletions in the promoter and first intron of pCOL-KT were tested in various cell types by transient expression assays. Cis elements in the promoter-proximal and intronic sequences displayed either a positive or a negative influence depending on the cell type. Thus deletion of fragments using EcoRV (nt -625 to -442 deleted), XbaI (-804 to -331) or SstII (+670 to +1440) resulted in 2-10-fold decreased expression in A204 and HFL-1 cells. The negative influences of deletions in the promoter-proximal sequences was apparently considerably relieved by deleting sequences in the first intron, and the constructs containing the EcoRV/SstII or XbaI/SstII double deletions were expressed to a much greater extent than either of the single deletion constructs. In contrast, the XbaI* deletion (nt -804 to -609), either alone or in combination with the intronic deletion, resulted in very high expression in all cells regardless of their collagen phenotype; the XbaI*/(-SstII) construct, which contained the intronic SstII fragment (+670 to +1440) in the reverse orientation, was not expressed in either mesenchymal or nonmesenchymal cells. Based on these results, we conclude that orientation-dependent interactions between negatively acting 5'-upstream sequences and the first intron determine the mesenchymal cell specificity of human pro alpha 1 (I) collagen gene transcription.
Simkevich
C P
CP
Department of Pharmacology, University of Tennessee, Memphis.
Thompson
J P
JP
Poppleton
H
H
Raghow
R
R
D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D002642:Chick Embryo; D002872:Chromosome Deletion; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006801:Humans; D007438:Introns; D009928:Organ Specificity; D016716:PC12 Cells; D010957:Plasmids; D011347:Procollagen / Q000235:genetics*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014162:Transfection
D011347:Procollagen