title: Cloning and transcriptional activity of a novel ovarian-specific promoter from rat retrovirus-like elements.
abstract: The long terminal repeats (LTRs) are the control centers for retrovirus gene expression, which possess all of the requisite signals. It has been proved that the LTRs of Moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMLV) could constitutively activate genes in diverse cell types. Recently, a retrovirus-like element, OSP-1 (ovarian-specific promoter 1), was extracted from rat ovary according to the LTRs of MoMLV, whose name was derived from the fact of ovarian-specific transcription. It was reasonable to speculate that the tissue-specificity was acquired through mutations and that there should be abound other mutants, active or inactive. In the present study, we isolated several homologous sequences to OSP-1 and detected their function. Consequently, one of them could also drive target gene expression specifically to ovarian cell lines and was named OSP-2 which shared 98% similarity to OSP-1. On the other hand, we picked up other two closest sequences and proved them inactive, which was 97% and 95% similar to OSP-1, respectively. Sequence analysis revealed the different mutations around/within the binding sites of transcriptional factors that might play important roles in tissue-specificity. In summary, we extracted a novel ovarian-specific promoter as well as other nonfunctional mutants, which in part shed light on the study of ovarian-specific transcription. In addition, it also provided a new tool in cancer gene therapy and to create transgenic animals.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, Memorial Hospital of Sun Yat-Sen University, No. 107 Yanjiang Road, Guangzhou, China.
authors.forename: Chun-Hua
authors.initials: CH
authors.lastname: Tu
authors.forename: Wei-Peng
authors.initials: WP
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Li-Li
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Ya-Qin
authors.initials: YQ
authors.lastname: Mo
authors.forename: Dong-Zi
authors.initials: DZ
authors.lastname: Yang
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D030801:Animals, Genetically Modified; D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D005260:Female; D015316:Genetic Therapy; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D008979:Moloney murine leukemia virus / Q000235:genetics; D009928:Organ Specificity; D010051:Ovarian Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics / Q000628:therapy; D010053:Ovary / Q000378:metabolism*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D051381:Rats; D018626:Retroelements / Q000235:genetics*; D020079:Terminal Repeat Sequences; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D018626:Retroelements