title: Isolation of the promoters of Atlantic salmon MHCII genes.
abstract: The major histocompatibility complex class II (MHCII) has a central role in the immune response of vertebrates with its function of presenting antigenic peptides to the T-cell receptors. We have isolated the promoters and intron 1 of MHCIIalpha and MHCIIbeta genes of Atlantic salmon. To isolate these promoters, we constructed an Atlantic salmon ( Salmo salar) promoter finder kit (analogous to the commercially available "human promoter finder kit"). By nucleotide sequence alignment of known MHCII promoter regions, we identified the 3 conserved regulatory X, X2, and Y boxes in the salmon promoters. The W box was not found. In contrast, a salmon-specific putative W box was identified. Both of the isolated Atlantic salmon MHCIIalpha and beta promoters (included in patent applications by Genomar A/S, Oslo, Norway) were found to be functional since they both gave positive yellow fluorescence protein signal when inserted as promoters in the pEYFP-1 reporter plasmid and transfected into the salmon head kidney cell line (SHK-1).
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D001483:Base Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics; D005802:Genes, MHC Class II / Q000235:genetics*; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D020317:Salmo salar / Q000235:genetics*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D001426:Bacterial Proteins; D017931:DNA Primers; D008164:Luminescent Proteins; C054562:yellow fluorescent protein, Bacteria