title: Functional properties of the neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor beta3 promoter in the developing central nervous system.
abstract: Within the chick central nervous system, expression of the beta3 nicotinic acetylcholine receptor gene is restricted to a subset of retinal neurons, the majority of which are ganglion cells. Transient transfection in retinal neurons and in neural and non-neural cells from other regions of the chick embryo allowed the identification of the cis-regulatory domain of the beta3 gene. Within this domain, a 75-base pair fragment located immediately upstream of the transcription start site suffices to reproduce the neuron-specific expression pattern of beta3. This fragment encompasses an E-box and a CAAT box, both of which are shown to be key positive regulatory elements of the beta3 promoter. Co-transfection experiments into retinal, telencephalic, and tectal neurons with plasmid reporters of beta3 promoter activity and a number of vectors expressing different neuronal (ASH-1, NeuroM, NeuroD, CTF-4) and non-neuronal (MyoD) basic helix-loop-helix transcription factors indicate that the cis-regulatory domain of beta3 has the remarkable property of discriminating accurately between related members of the basic helix-loop-helix protein family. The sequence located immediately 3' of the E-box participates in this selection, and the E-box acts in concert with the nearby CAAT box.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, Sciences II, University of Geneva, 1211 Geneva 4, Switzerland.
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Roztocil
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Matter-Sadzinski
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Gomez
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Ballivet
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Matter
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002490:Central Nervous System / Q000196:embryology*; D002642:Chick Embryo; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000235:genetics*; D017930:Genes, Reporter / Q000235:genetics; D018257:Helix-Loop-Helix Motifs / Q000502:physiology; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation / Q000235:genetics; D017570:MyoD Protein / Q000502:physiology; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000032:analysis; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic / Q000235:genetics*; D012160:Retina / Q000254:growth & development; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D015533:Transcriptional Activation / Q000235:genetics; D014162:Transfection / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D017570:MyoD Protein; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D011978:Receptors, Nicotinic; D014157:Transcription Factors