Chicken collagen X regulatory sequences restrict transgene expression to hypertrophic cartilage in mice.
Collagen X is produced by hypertrophic cartilage undergoing endochondral ossification. Transgenic mice expressing defective collagen X under the control of 4.7- or 1.6-kb chicken collagen X regulatory sequences yielded skeleto-hematopoietic defects (Jacenko O, LuValle P, Olsen BR: Spondylometaphyseal dysplasia in mice carrying a dominant-negative mutation in a matrix protein specific for cartilage-to-bone transition. Nature 1993, 365:56-61; Jacenko O, Chan D, Franklin A, Ito S, Underhill CB, Bateman JF, Campbell MR: A dominant interference collagen X mutation disrupts hypertrophic chondrocyte pericellular matrix and glycosaminoglycan and proteoglycan distribution in transgenic mice. Am J Pathol 2001, 159:2257-2269; Jacenko O, Roberts DW, Campbell MR, McManus PM, Gress CJ, Tao Z: Linking hematopoiesis to endochondral ossification through analysis of mice transgenic for collagen X. Am J Pathol 2002, 160:2019-2034). Current data indicate that the hematopoietic abnormalities do not result from extraskeletal expression of endogenous collagen X or the transgene. Organs from mice carrying either promoter were screened by immunohistochemistry, in situ hybridization, and Northern blot; transgene and mouse collagen X proteins and messages were detected only in hypertrophic cartilage. Likewise, reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction revealed both transgene and mouse collagen X amplicons only in the endochondral skeleton of mice with the 4.7-kb promoter; however, in mice with the 1.6-kb promoter, multiple organs were transgene-positive. Collagen X and transgene amplicons were also detected in marrow, but likely resulted from contaminating trabecular bone; this was supported by reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction analysis of rat tibial zones free of trabeculae. Our data demonstrate that in mice, the 4.7-kb chicken collagen X promoter restricts transcription temporo-spatially to that of endogenous collagen X, and imply that murine skeleto-hematopoietic defects result from transgene co-expression with collagen X. Moreover, the 4.7-kb hypertrophic cartilage-specific promoter could be used for targeting transgenes to this tissue site in mice.
Campbell
Michelle R
MR
Department of Animal Biology, University of Pennsylvania School of Veterinary Medicine, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104-6046, USA.
Gress
Catherine J
CJ
Appleman
Elizabeth H
EH
Jacenko
Olena
O
D000818:Animals; D015152:Blotting, Northern; D001853:Bone Marrow / Q000378:metabolism; D002356:Cartilage / Q000378:metabolism*; D002645:Chickens; D024121:Collagen Type X / Q000235:genetics*; D006984:Hypertrophy / Q000473:pathology; D007150:Immunohistochemistry; D017403:In Situ Hybridization; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D010012:Osteogenesis / Q000502:physiology; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D051381:Rats; D038621:Regulatory Sequences, Ribonucleic Acid; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D019076:Transgenes
D024121:Collagen Type X; D038621:Regulatory Sequences, Ribonucleic Acid