title: Human nidogen gene: structural and functional characterization of the 5'-flanking region.
abstract: Nidogen is a sulfated multifunctional glycoprotein present in basement membranes. In this study, we have cloned the 5'-flanking region of the human nidogen gene. Initially, an approximately 35-kb DNA clone (NCos4) was isolated from a human cosmid genomic library. Southern hybridization of EcoRI-digested NCos4 allowed isolation of a 3.7-kb fragment, which was shown to contain a portion of intron 1, the entire exon 1, and approximately 0.9 kb of 5'-flanking sequences of the nidogen gene. Nucleotide sequencing of the 5'-flanking DNA revealed the presence of two canonic CCAAT consensus sequences in the antisense strand and a potential variant of the TATA motif, TATTT, in the sense strand. One putative AP-2 and six putative SP1 binding sites were also present. To test the functional promoter activity of the 5'-flanking genomic DNA, two nidogen promoter/CAT reporter gene constructs, with the promoter segment spanning from -864 to -1 and from -534 to -1, respectively, were developed and analyzed in transient transfections of human and mouse cell cultures. Both constructs showed clearly detectable promoter activity, and the activity of the larger construct could be up-regulated by 12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol 13-acetate up to 2.5 times. The results indicate that the nidogen promoter/CAT gene constructs developed in this study provide a means to examine the transcriptional regulation of nidogen gene expression in human diseases of the basement membrane zone.
authors.affiliation: Department of Dermatology, Jefferson Medical College, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA 19107.
authors.forename: M J
authors.initials: MJ
authors.lastname: Fazio
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: O'Leary
authors.forename: V M
authors.initials: VM
authors.lastname: Kähäri
authors.forename: Y Q
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Chen
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Saitta
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Uitto
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D015500:Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase / Q000235:genetics; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology; D005796:Genes / Q000502:physiology*; D015894:Genome, Human; D006801:Humans; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010957:Plasmids; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000502:physiology; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D008565:Membrane Proteins; C029967:nidogen; D004247:DNA; D015500:Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase