title: Characterisation of the rat heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor gene promoter.
abstract: Heparin-binding epidermal growth factor-like growth factor (HB-EGF) gene expression is strongly activated by a variety of extracellular stimuli, acting through the Raf/MEK/MAP kinase pathway. To study the elements that respond to this pathway, we have isolated and sequenced a fragment of the rat HB-EGF gene promoter. By transfection of a series of promoter/reporter constructs into cells, a minimal promoter element was demonstrated to lie between 448 bp upstream of the transcriptional start site and 103 bp into the first exon of the gene. However co-transfection of the promoter constructs with a plasmid directing expression of RafCAAX, an activated c-Raf-1 protein, gave a fold-stimulation of activity no greater than that seen for the parental pGL3-Basic plasmid alone. In addition, agonist stimulation of cell lines stably transfected with a HB-EGF promoter/luciferase construct produced little or no increase in reporter enzyme activity. These results suggest that the c-Raf-1 responsive elements lie outside the tested region of the rat HB-EGF gene. However, it has been reported that a c-Raf-1 responsive element is present within the equivalent region of the mouse gene. A comparison of the 5'-flanking regions of the mouse, rat and human HB-EGF genes indicated that the mouse sequence diverges abruptly from that of the other two species approximately 260 bp upstream of the transcriptional start site. PCR analysis of mouse genomic DNA suggests that this sequence divergence is due to DNA rearrangement during the cloning of the mouse gene. Additional studies are therefore required to identify Raf/MAP kinase responsive elements in the HB-EGF gene.
authors.affiliation: Signalling Programme, The Babraham Institute, Babraham Hall, CB2 4AT, Cambridge, UK. john.pascall@bbsrc.ac.uk
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Pascall
authors.forename: P D
authors.initials: PD
authors.lastname: Ellis
authors.forename: K D
authors.initials: KD
authors.lastname: Brown
mesh_terms: D016475:3T3 Cells; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D004247:DNA / Q000032:analysis; D004815:Epidermal Growth Factor / Q000235:genetics*; D066257:Heparin-binding EGF-like Growth Factor; D006801:Humans; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D051381:Rats; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D016385:TATA Box
chemical_list: C587883:HBEGF protein, human; C587884:Hbegf protein, mouse; C587885:Hbegf protein, rat; D066257:Heparin-binding EGF-like Growth Factor; D036341:Intercellular Signaling Peptides and Proteins; D004815:Epidermal Growth Factor; D004247:DNA