Substitution of the human beta-spectrin promoter for the human agamma-globin promoter prevents silencing of a linked human beta-globin gene in transgenic mice.
During development, changes occur in both the sites of erythropoiesis and the globin genes expressed at each developmental stage. Previous work has shown that high-level expression of human beta-like globin genes in transgenic mice requires the presence of the locus control region (LCR). Models of hemoglobin switching propose that the LCR and/or stage-specific elements interact with globin gene sequences to activate specific genes in erythroid cells. To test these models, we generated transgenic mice which contain the human Agamma-globin gene linked to a 576-bp fragment containing the human beta-spectrin promoter. In these mice, the beta-spectrin Agamma-globin (betasp/Agamma) transgene was expressed at high levels in erythroid cells throughout development. Transgenic mice containing a 40-kb cosmid construct with the micro-LCR, betasp/Agamma-, psibeta-, delta-, and beta-globin genes showed no developmental switching and expressed both human gamma- and beta-globin mRNAs in erythroid cells throughout development. Mice containing control cosmids with the Agamma-globin gene promoter showed developmental switching and expressed Agamma-globin mRNA in yolk sac and fetal liver erythroid cells and beta-globin mRNA in fetal liver and adult erythroid cells. Our results suggest that replacement of the gamma-globin promoter with the beta-spectrin promoter allows the expression of the beta-globin gene. We conclude that the gamma-globin promoter is necessary and sufficient to suppress the expression of the beta-globin gene in yolk sac erythroid cells.
Hematopoiesis Section, Genetics and Molecular Biology Branch, National Human Genome Research Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, USA.
D E
DE
Sabatino
A P
AP
Cline
P G
PG
Gallagher
L J
LJ
Garrett
G
G
Stamatoyannopoulos
B G
BG
Forget
D M
DM
Bodine
D000818:Animals; D003360:Cosmids / Q000235:genetics; D004920:Erythropoiesis / Q000235:genetics; D005455:Fluorescent Antibody Technique; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000235:genetics; D005914:Globins / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000196:embryology; D019901:Locus Control Region / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000378:metabolism; D012260:Ribonucleases / Q000378:metabolism; D013049:Spectrin / Q000235:genetics*; D019076:Transgenes / Q000235:genetics
D012333:RNA, Messenger; D013049:Spectrin; D005914:Globins; D012260:Ribonucleases