title: HS-48 alone has no enhancement role on the expression of human alpha-globin gene cluster.
abstract: To investigate the in vivo function of the newly defined DNase I hypersensitive site HS-48 on the whole human alpha-globin gene cluster, the region containing all the other known 5 hypersensitive sites HS-4 to HS-40 was deleted from a 117 kb bacterial artificial chromosome clone bearing the whole human alpha-globin gene cluster. Transgenic mice were generated from this construct. The RNase protection assays showed that with HS-48 left and all the other 5 hypersensitive sites deleted, the expression of human alpha-like globin genes was completely silenced in embryonic, fetal and adult stages in all tissues. This finding indicates that HS-48 alone has no enhancer activity on the expression of human alpha-like globin genes, and that the region of HS-4 to HS-40 already contains all the upstream cis-elements needed for regulating human alpha-like globin genes.
authors.affiliation: National Laboratory of Medical Molecular Biology, Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking Union Medical College and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing 100005, PR China.
authors.forename: Xiao-bin
authors.initials: XB
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: Dong-xiao
authors.initials: DX
authors.lastname: Feng
authors.forename: Li-jun
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Di
authors.forename: Yue
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Xiang-hui
authors.initials: XH
authors.lastname: Fu
authors.forename: Guang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Yi
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Tang
authors.forename: De-pei
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Chih-Chuan
authors.initials: CC
authors.lastname: Liang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites / Q000235:genetics; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D022202:Chromosomes, Artificial, Bacterial; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism*; D003850:Deoxyribonuclease I / Q000235:genetics*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D005914:Globins / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008822:Mice, Transgenic; D005810:Multigene Family / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D005914:Globins; D004247:DNA; D003850:Deoxyribonuclease I