title: A short region of the promoter of the breast cancer associated PLU-1 gene can regulate transcription in vitro and in vivo.
abstract: The recently cloned gene PLU-1 shows restricted expression in adult tissues, with high expression being found in testis, and transiently in the pregnant mammary gland. However, both the gene and the protein product are specifically up-regulated in breast cancer. To investigate the control of expression of the PLU-1 gene, we have cloned and functionally characterised the 5' flanking region of the gene, which was found to contain another putative gene. Two transcription start sites of the PLU-1 gene were mapped by 5' RACE. A short proximal 249 bp region was defined using reporter gene assays, which encompasses the major transcription start site and exhibits a strong constitutive promoter activity in all cell lines tested. However, regions upstream of this sequence repress transcription more effectively in a non-malignant breast cell line as compared to breast cancer cell lines. The 249 bp region is GC-rich and includes consensus Sp1 sites, GC boxes, cAMP-responsive element (CRE) and other putative cis-elements. Mutational analysis showed that two intact conserved Sp1 binding sites (shown here to bind Sp1 and/or Sp3) are critical for constitutive promoter activity, while a negative role for a neighbouring GC box is indicated. The sequence of the core promoter is highly conserved in the mouse and Plu-1 expression in the mouse embryo has been documented. Using transgenesis, we therefore examined the ability of the 249 bp fragment to control expression of a reporter gene during embryogenesis. We found that not only is the core promoter sufficient to activate transcription in vivo, but that the expression of the reporter gene coincides both temporally and spatially with regions where endogenous Plu-1 is highly expressed. This suggests that tissue specific controlling elements are found within the short fragment and are functional in the embryonic environment.
authors.affiliation: Breast Cancer Biology Group, Cancer Research UK, Guy's Hospital, London SE1 9RT, UK.
authors.forename: Aurélie
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Catteau
authors.forename: Ian
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Rosewell
authors.forename: Ellen
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Solomon
authors.forename: Joyce
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Taylor-Papadimitriou
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D001940:Breast; D001943:Breast Neoplasms; D002460:Cell Line; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D005260:Female; D005784:Gene Amplification; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D056484:Jumonji Domain-Containing Histone Demethylases; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D056484:Jumonji Domain-Containing Histone Demethylases; C119611:KDM5B protein, human; C485614:Kdm5b protein, mouse