title: Tissue-specific expression from a compound TATA-dependent and TATA-independent promoter.
abstract: We have found that the mouse metallothionein-I (MT-I) gene promoter functions in an unusual, compound manner. It directs both TATA-dependent and TATA-independent modes of transcription in vivo. The TATA-dependent message is initiated at the previously characterized +1 transcription start site and is the predominant species in most tissues. In many cell types it is metal inducible. The TATA-independent initiation sites are distributed over the 160 bp upstream of the previously characterized +1 start site, and the RNA products are present in all tissues examined. Only in testis, however, do the TATA-independent transcripts predominate, accumulating to highest levels in pachytene-stage meiotic cells and early spermatids. Unlike the TATA-dependent +1 transcript, these RNAs are not induced by metal, even in cultured cells in which the +1 species is induced. Transfection studies of site-directed mutants show that destruction of the TATA element drastically alters the ratio of the two RNA classes in cells in which the +1 transcripts normally dominates. In TATA-minus mutants, the TATA-independent RNAs become the most prevalent, although they remain refractory to metal induction. Thus, the MT-I promoter utilizes two different types of core promoter function within a single cell population. The two different types of core promoter respond very differently to environmental stimuli, and the choice between them appears to be regulated in a tissue-specific fashion.
authors.affiliation: Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena 91125.
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Garrity
authors.forename: B J
authors.initials: BJ
authors.lastname: Wold
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003433:Crosses, Genetic; D015870:Gene Expression; D007739:L Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D008297:Male; D008668:Metallothionein / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D009928:Organ Specificity; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D016385:TATA Box; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D008668:Metallothionein