title: Characterization of the promoters of the guinea pig neutrophil cationic peptide-1 and -2 genes.
abstract: Guinea pig neutrophils contain the antimicrobial cationic peptides GNCP-1 and GNCP-2 in the granules. To understand the regulation of the gene expression, the promoters for the GNCP-1 and GNCP-2 genes were characterized. Sequencing analysis of the genomic clones showed that the nucleotide sequences of the 5'-upstream regions (1.7 kb) from exon 1 were homologous (90-93%) between the GNCP-1 and GNCP-2 genes. However, transient transfection assays using luciferase reporter gene constructs revealed that the promoter activity of GNCP-1 was 2-fold greater than that of GNCP-2. Furthermore, DNase I footprint analysis demonstrated that three regions (I, II and III) were protected on the GNCP-1 promoter, whereas only two protected regions (II and III) were identified on the GNCP-2 promoter. Together these observations indicate that GNCP-1 and GNCP-2 are encoded by homologous genes, but the expression of the GNCP-1 and GNCP-2 genes is likely to be different at the level of transcription.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Juntendo University, School of Medicine, Tokyo, Japan.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Nagaoka
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ishihara
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Yamashita
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D001483:Base Sequence; D001798:Blood Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D002461:Cell Line, Transformed; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004247:DNA; D003850:Deoxyribonuclease I; D005260:Female; D006168:Guinea Pigs; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009504:Neutrophils; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic
chemical_list: D023181:Antimicrobial Cationic Peptides; D001798:Blood Proteins; C030509:neutrophil basic proteins; D004247:DNA; D003850:Deoxyribonuclease I