Expression of a chicken lysozyme recombinant gene is regulated by progesterone and dexamethasone after microinjection into oviduct cells.
We transferred a chicken lysozyme gene recombinant by microinjection into primary cultures of chicken oviduct cells. The recombinant gene is a fusion between the lysozyme promoter, including 1.4 kb of upstream sequences, and the coding region of the gene for SV40 T antigen (plys-T). The expression of plys-T is stimulated by the steroid hormones progesterone and dexamethasone, but not by estradiol. The number of oviduct cells expressing coinjected or separately injected control genes is not increased by steroids. A deletion mutant lacking the lysozyme sequences between -161 and +15 does not express T antigen, indicating that transcription of plys-T starts within the lysozyme promoter region. By screening different cell types we found that microinjected plys-T is expressed in chicken oviduct cells but not in chicken macrophages or fibroblasts or in rat II fibroblasts.
D000818:Animals; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D002645:Chickens; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes; D004274:DNA, Recombinant / Q000378:metabolism*; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005260:Female; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000378:metabolism; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D005796:Genes / Q000187:drug effects*; D007328:Insulin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D008264:Macrophages / Q000378:metabolism; D008845:Microinjections; D009113:Muramidase / Q000235:genetics*; D010057:Oviducts / Q000378:metabolism*; D010957:Plasmids; D011374:Progesterone / Q000494:pharmacology*; D051381:Rats
D004274:DNA, Recombinant; D007328:Insulin; D011374:Progesterone; D003907:Dexamethasone; D004262:DNA Restriction Enzymes; D009113:Muramidase