title: Regulation of a hair follicle keratin intermediate filament gene promoter.
abstract: During hair growth, cortical cells emerging from the proliferative follicle bulb rapidly undergo a differentiation program and synthesise large amounts of hair keratin proteins. To identify some of the controls that specify expression of hair genes we have defined the minimal promoter of the wool keratin intermediate filament gene K2.10. The region of this gene spanning nucleotides -350 to +53 was sufficient to direct expression of the lacZ gene to the follicle cortex of transgenic mice but deletion of nucleotides -350 to -150 led to a complete loss of promoter activity. When a four base substitution mutation was introduced into the minimal functional promoter at the binding site for lymphoid enhancer factor 1 (LEF-1), promoter activity in transgenic mice was decreased but specificity was not affected. To investigate the interaction of trans-acting factors within the minimal K2.10 promoter we performed DNase I footprinting analyses and electrophoretic mobility shift assays. In addition to LEF-1, Sp1, AP2-like and NF1-like proteins bound to the promoter. The Sp1 and AP2-like proteins bound sequences flanking the LEF-1 binding site whereas the NF1-like proteins bound closer to the transcription start site. We conclude that the LEF-1 binding site is an enhancer element of the K2.10 promoter in the hair follicle cortex and that factors other than LEF-1 regulate promoter tissue- and differentiation-specificity.
authors.affiliation: Department of Animal Science, University of Adelaide, Waite Campus, Glen Osmond, South Australia 5064, Australia.
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Dunn
authors.forename: R A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Keough
authors.forename: G E
authors.initials: GE
authors.lastname: Rogers
authors.forename: B C
authors.initials: BC
authors.lastname: Powell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites / Q000235:genetics; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015342:DNA Probes / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic; D015870:Gene Expression; D006197:Hair / Q000254:growth & development; D018859:Hair Follicle / Q000166:cytology / Q000254:growth & development / Q000378:metabolism*; D007382:Intermediate Filaments / Q000378:metabolism*; D007633:Keratins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D051821:Lymphoid Enhancer-Binding Factor 1; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D011485:Protein Binding; D012756:Sheep; D050656:Transcription Factor AP-2; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D015342:DNA Probes; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C497574:Lef1 protein, mouse; D051821:Lymphoid Enhancer-Binding Factor 1; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D050656:Transcription Factor AP-2; D014157:Transcription Factors; D007633:Keratins; D004247:DNA