An enhancer element for expression of the Ncx (Enx, Hox11L1) gene in neural crest-derived cells.
The murine Ncx (Enx, Hox11L1) gene is specifically expressed in a neuronal subset of neural crest-derived tissues. In attempts to elucidate the regulatory DNA element of the tissue-specific expression, we sequenced the 5'-flanking region of the Ncx gene. The transcriptional initiation site was determined at 297 nucleotides (-297) upstream from the ATG start codon (+1). A retinoic acid response element was located on the region between -1163 and -1150. Transient transfection assays with the 5'-flanking sequences fused to the luciferase gene showed that the region between -1387 and -1368 was crucial for the tissue-specific enhancer activity. Furthermore, nuclear proteins extracted from neural crest-derived cells such as murine and human neuroblastoma cells bind to the DNA region between -1387 and -1368. This DNA element was also conserved in the 5'-flanking region of the human NCX gene. Our observations strongly suggest that the DNA element (between -1387 and -1368) contributes to tissue-specific expression of the Ncx gene in murine and human species.
Iitsuka
Y
Y
Department of Developmental Genetics, Chiba University Graduate School of Medicine, Chiba 260-8670, Japan.
Shimizu
H
H
Kang
M M
MM
Sasagawa
K
K
Sekiya
S
S
Tokuhisa
T
T
Hatano
M
M
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic; D005260:Female; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008811:Mice, Inbred DBA; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009432:Neural Crest / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D009928:Organ Specificity; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000502:physiology; D014212:Tretinoin / Q000494:pharmacology; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D015854:Up-Regulation
C101121:HOXB1 homeodomain protein; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; C491534:TLX2 protein, human; C107836:Tlx2 protein, mouse; D014212:Tretinoin