title: PAX6 intronic sequence targets expression to the spinal cord.
abstract: PAX6, a member of the family of highly conserved paired-box and homeobox genes, is highly conserved at both the protein and DNA levels. A conserved 216-bp Pax6 intron 4 sequence was found in human, mouse, and quail. Our transgenic mice experiments indicated that when under control of the human PAX6 promoter, the human 216-bp conserved sequence (ele4H) functioned as a spinal cord-specific enhancer. This enhancer can drive lacZ expression at the thoracic and lumbar levels of the spinal cord only when linked to a functional PAX6 promoter. These studies also suggested that PAX6 was not only conserved at the functional level, but at the transcriptional level as well.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston 77030, USA.
authors.forename: Z P
authors.initials: ZP
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: G F
authors.initials: GF
authors.lastname: Saunders
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D005136:Eye Proteins; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D005801:Genes, Homeobox; D006367:HeLa Cells; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D006801:Humans; D007438:Introns; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D000071841:PAX6 Transcription Factor; D051761:Paired Box Transcription Factors; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D013116:Spinal Cord / Q000196:embryology* / Q000502:physiology*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D005136:Eye Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D000071841:PAX6 Transcription Factor; C000605730:PAX6 protein, human; D051761:Paired Box Transcription Factors; C000605732:Pax6 protein, mouse; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors