title: Tissue preferential expression of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) surface antigen gene in two lines of HBV transgenic mice.
abstract: Two transgenic mice were produced by microinjection of the entire hepatitis B virus (HBV) genome as a 3.2-kilobase EcoRI DNA fragment into one-cell embryos. Each animal contained a single, unique locus of HBV sequence. One founder animal, G7, contained a partially deleted HBV genome lacking both putative HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) promoters. The other animal, G26, contained greater-than-genome-length HBV sequences organized as a partial head-to-tail dimer. Both transgenic animals transmitted the HBV sequences in a Mendelian fashion, and all subsequent transgenic animals had detectable HBsAg in the serum. Expression of HBV sequences in tissues from G7- and G26-derived mice showed preferential expression of the 2.1-kilobase HBsAg RNA transcript in liver and kidney tissues by Northern (RNA) blot analysis. These data are consistent with the notion that HBV DNA contains cis-acting regulatory sequences which are responsible for the predominant expression of HBsAg transcripts in the liver and kidney of transgenic mice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pediatrics, Albert Einstein College of Medicine, Bronx, New York 10461.
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Burk
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: DeLoia
authors.forename: M K
authors.initials: MK
authors.lastname: elAwady
authors.forename: J D
authors.initials: JD
authors.lastname: Gearhart
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes; D004279:DNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005814:Genes, Viral; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens / Q000235:genetics*; D006515:Hepatitis B virus / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D007668:Kidney / Q000382:microbiology; D008099:Liver / Q000382:microbiology*; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D004279:DNA, Viral; D006514:Hepatitis B Surface Antigens; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes