title: Distal enhancer elements transcribe intergenic RNA in the IL-10 family gene cluster.
abstract: The IL-10 gene and homologs IL-19, IL-20, and IL-24 are expressed within a highly conserved 145-kb cytokine gene cluster. Like the Th2 IL-4 cytokine gene cluster, it is feasible that there is coordinate regulation of these cytokines by distal regulatory elements spanning the locus. We initiated a search to characterize regulatory elements within the IL-10 family locus and present data herein on a conserved 40-kb region between the IL-19 and IL-10 genes. We map the location of 17 DNase I-hypersensitive sites in different murine T cell populations and identify three enhancer elements, which function in T cells in vitro. Two of these enhancer elements, located 9 kb upstream and 6.45 kb downstream of IL-10, display cell-specific function in the Th1-Th2 cell clones AE7 and D10 and also exhibit basic promoter activity. The downstream element, IL-10CNS+6.45, binds AP-1 in the absence of NFAT and expresses intergenic RNA in a Th2-specific manner, further validating its role as a Th2-specific enhancer/promoter element. We show that the five most highly conserved noncoding sequences in the 40-kb region transcribe intergenic RNA; four of these regions possess promoter activity in vitro that could account for the expression of these transcripts. Hence, we speculate that these novel regulatory elements in the IL-10 family gene locus function via an intermediate regulatory RNA.
authors.affiliation: Section of Immunobiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510, USA.
authors.forename: Elizabeth A
authors.initials: EA
authors.lastname: Jones
authors.forename: Richard A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Flavell
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers; D021901:DNA, Intergenic / Q000235:genetics*; D024202:Electrophoretic Mobility Shift Assay; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000276:immunology*; D006801:Humans; D016753:Interleukin-10 / Q000235:genetics*; D007378:Interleukins; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012313:RNA / Q000235:genetics*; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction; D020539:Sequence Analysis, Protein; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D018417:Th1 Cells / Q000502:physiology; D018418:Th2 Cells / Q000502:physiology; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D021901:DNA, Intergenic; C421250:IL19 protein, human; D007378:Interleukins; D016753:Interleukin-10; D012313:RNA