title: The proximal cis-acting elements Sp1, Sp3 and E2F regulate mouse mer gene transcription in Sertoli cells.
abstract: Mer belongs to the Tyro 3 family of receptor tyrosine kinases (RTKs). Together with Axl and Rse, the three RTKs are believed to play important functional roles in the male gonads because gene knockout male mice lacking all of these receptors are infertile. In the present study, postnatal expression of Axl and Rse in mouse testes decreased during maturation while expression of Mer increased age-dependently during testicular development. To investigate the transcriptional regulation of gene expression in the testis, a approximately 1.5 kb fragment of the 5' flanking sequence of Mer was isolated. The sequence lacks a typical TATA or CAAT box. 5' RACE revealed that the putative major transcriptional start site of Mer is located at +102 bp upstream of the translation initiation site. Using transient transfections of luciferase reporter constructs driven by various lengths of the 5' flanking sequence, the gene segment -321/+126 showed the highest transcriptional activity in a mouse Sertoli cell line (TM4). DNAase I footprinting experiments revealed four footprints within the region from -321 to -26, including three binding sites for the transcriptional factor Specificity protein 1 (Sp1) and one for an unknown transcriptional factor. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA), supershift assay, mutation studies and cotransfection demonstrated that those Sp1 cis-acting motifs interacted either with Sp1 or Sp1/Sp3, depending on location and the nearby nucleotide sequences. An E2F binding site which down-regulates Mer transcription, as revealed by EMSA, deletion and mutation studies, was identified downstream in the proximity of the promoter. Taking all of these data together, the study has demonstrated that Sp1, Sp3, E2F and probably another unknown transcriptional factor play a critical role in regulating the proximal promoter activities of Mer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Zoology, The University of Hong Kong, China.
authors.forename: Connie C S
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Wong
authors.forename: Will M
authors.initials: WM
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D024506:5' Flanking Region; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D050684:E2F Transcription Factors; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D008297:Male; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015513:Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D012708:Sertoli Cells / Q000502:physiology*; D016329:Sp1 Transcription Factor / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D051705:Sp3 Transcription Factor; D013737:Testis / Q000254:growth & development / Q000502:physiology; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D000076202:c-Mer Tyrosine Kinase; D000094963:Axl Receptor Tyrosine Kinase
chemical_list: D018797:Cell Cycle Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D050684:E2F Transcription Factors; D019006:Neural Cell Adhesion Molecules; D015513:Oncogene Proteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D016329:Sp1 Transcription Factor; C497122:Sp3 protein, mouse; D014157:Transcription Factors; D051705:Sp3 Transcription Factor; C490767:Mertk protein, mouse; D020794:Receptor Protein-Tyrosine Kinases; C084944:TYRO3 protein, human; D000076202:c-Mer Tyrosine Kinase; D000094963:Axl Receptor Tyrosine Kinase; C000722290:AXL receptor tyrosine kinase, mouse