title: Tissue-specific determinants of human atrial natriuretic factor gene expression in cardiac tissue.
abstract: Elements controlling tissue-specific expression of the human atrial natriuretic factor gene have been examined in primary cultures of neonatal rat cardiocytes. When a 68-base pair fragment from human atrial natriuretic factor (hANF) 5'-flanking sequence (positions -400 to -333) was placed upstream from the herpes simplex thymidine kinase promoter linked to a bacterial reporter gene (chloramphenicol acetyltransferase), a tissue-specific positive regulatory effect was observed in atrial as well as ventricular cardiocytes but not in nonmyocardial cells. The cis-acting element in this fragment was orientation- and position-dependent. Examination of nuclear protein extracts for the presence of factors capable of interacting with the 5'-flanking sequence of the hANF gene revealed a cardiocyte-specific factor which bound to the 68-base pair fragment. This association was both tissue- and sequence-specific. These findings indicate that a cis-acting element present in the proximal 5'-flanking sequence confers tissue-specific expression upon the hANF gene, possibly through association with a cardiac-specific nuclear protein.
authors.affiliation: Metabolic Research Unit, University of California, San Francisco 94143.
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: M C
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: LaPointe
authors.forename: B L
authors.initials: BL
authors.lastname: West
authors.forename: D G
authors.initials: DG
authors.lastname: Gardner
mesh_terms: D009320:Atrial Natriuretic Factor / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006321:Heart / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C472955:NPPA protein, human; D009320:Atrial Natriuretic Factor