Tissue-specific versus cell type-specific expression of the glial fibrillary acidic protein.
Expression of the glial cell-specific gene encoding glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP) is regulated in a tissue-specific (neural tissue versus other tissues) as well as a cell type-specific (glial cell versus neuron) manner. Using a family of rat neurotumor RT4 cell lines in which neuronal/glial differentiation occurs in vitro, along with cell lines of different tissue origins, we identified by transient- and permanent-transfection assays two negative regulatory regions, GFAP downstream regulators 1 and 2 (GDR1 and GDR2). Both regions lie 3' of the transcription start site; GDR1 is in a 2.7-kb region extending from the first intron through the fifth exon, and GDR2 is within 1.7 kb 3' of the polyadenylylation site. GDR1 alone is responsible for tissue-specific expression (suppression in nonneural tissues), while both GDR1 and GDR2 are necessary for cell type-specific expression (suppression in neuronal cells).
Department of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, University of Colorado, Boulder 80309.
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R
Kaneko
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Sueoka
D000818:Animals; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D014018:Tissue Distribution; D014162:Transfection
D005904:Glial Fibrillary Acidic Protein