Cis-acting elements (E-box and NBE) in the promoter region of three maternal genes (Histone H1oo, Nucleoplasmin 2, and Zygote Arrest 1) are required for oocyte-specific gene expression in the mouse.
We examined the promoter activities of three mouse maternal genes (H1oo, Npm2, and Zar1) in oocytes and pre-implantation embryos, and examined the promoters for cis-acting elements of 5'-flanking region to obtain the best promoter for inducing oocyte-specific gene expression. For the assay, we injected firefly luciferase gene constructs under the control of the promoters into the oocytes and embryos. Each promoter region showed transcriptional activity in oocytes, but not in fertilized embryos. Deletion analysis showed that a putative E-box region at position -72 of the H1oo promoter and at the -180 of the Npm2 promoter were required for basal transcriptional activity in oocytes. Moreover, a putative NBE motif (NOBOX DNA binding elements) (-1796) was shown to enhance basal transcriptional activity of the Npm2 promoter. Thus, the E-box and/or NBE may be key regulatory regions for the expression of the examined maternal genes (H1oo and Npm2) in growing mouse oocytes.
Tsunemoto
Kazunobu
K
Department of Genetic Engineering, Kinki University, Kinokawa, Wakayama, Japan.
Anzai
Masayuki
M
Matsuoka
Toshiki
T
Tokoro
Mikiko
M
Shin
Seung-Wook
SW
Amano
Tomoko
T
Mitani
Tasuku
T
Kato
Hiromi
H
Hosoi
Yoshihiko
Y
Saeki
Kazuhiro
K
Iritani
Akira
A
Matsumoto
Kazuya
K
D020121:5' Untranslated Regions / Q000235:genetics; D000818:Animals; D001755:Blastocyst / Q000502:physiology*; D024721:E-Box Elements / Q000235:genetics*; D004527:Egg Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D047108:Embryonic Development; D005260:Female; D005307:Fertilization in Vitro; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D006657:Histones / Q000235:genetics*; D008156:Luciferases / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D008813:Mice, Inbred ICR; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D056489:Nucleoplasmins; D009865:Oocytes / Q000502:physiology*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D017384:Sequence Deletion
D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D004527:Egg Proteins; D006657:Histones; C533552:Npm2 protein, mouse; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D056489:Nucleoplasmins; C471630:Zar1 protein, mouse; D008156:Luciferases