title: Differential hypoxia response of hsp-16 genes in the nematode.
abstract: Small heat shock proteins are induced by various stresses. We here report the differential hypoxia responses of the hsp-16 genes in the nematode. The hsp-16.1 and hsp-16.2 genes in Caenorhabditis elegans responded to hypoxia, while hsp-16.41 and hsp-16.48, which share the promoter regions with hsp-16.1 and hsp-16.2, respectively, did not. For comparative genomic analysis, we identified ten hsp-16 genes in the nematode C.briggsae from the genome database. The comparison of the promoter sequences revealed a new conserved sequence block, CAC(A/T)CT, that was required for the orientation-dependent hypoxia response, but not for other stress responses such as heat or ethanol. We propose a working model for the orientation-dependent promoter usage between two genes sharing the promoter region. We also discuss a possible application of the hypoxia-inducible promoter for conditional gene expression.
authors.affiliation: National Research Laboratory, Department of Biology, Yonsei University, 134 Shinchon, Seoul, 120-749 South Korea, Korea.
authors.forename: Mingi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hong
authors.forename: Jae Young
authors.initials: JY
authors.lastname: Kwon
authors.forename: Jaegal
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Shim
authors.forename: Junho
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Lee
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002107:Caenorhabditis / Q000235:genetics; D015687:Cell Hypoxia / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics*; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D024202:Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assay; D000431:Ethanol / Q000494:pharmacology; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects; D017238:Genes, Helminth; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D023281:Genomics; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D018869:Heat-Shock Response / Q000235:genetics*; D008845:Microinjections; D008856:Microscopy, Fluorescence; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009348:Nematoda / Q000235:genetics*; D010802:Phylogeny; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D034622:RNA Interference; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D013696:Temperature; D019076:Transgenes
chemical_list: D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D049452:Green Fluorescent Proteins; D000431:Ethanol