title: Bidirectional activity of the NWC promoter is responsible for RAG-2 transcription in non-lymphoid cells.
abstract: The recombination-activating genes (RAG-1 and RAG-2) encode a V(D)J recombinase responsible for rearrangements of antigen-receptor genes during T and B cell development, and RAG expression is known to correlate strictly with the process of rearrangement. In contrast to RAG-1, the expression of RAG-2 was not previously detected during any other stage of lymphopoiesis or in any other normal tissue. Here we report that the CpG island-associated promoter of the NWC gene (the third evolutionarily conserved gene in the RAG locus), which is located in the second intron of RAG-2, has bidirectional activity and is responsible for the detectable transcription of RAG-2 in some non-lymphoid tissues. We also identify evolutionarily conserved promoter fragments responsible for this bidirectional activity, and show that it is activated by transcription factor ZFP143. The possible implications of our findings are briefly discussed.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular and Cellular Immunology, Department of Tumor Immunology, Institute of Immunology and Experimental Therapy, Polish Academy of Sciences, Wrocław, Poland.
authors.forename: Agnieszka
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Laszkiewicz
authors.forename: Lukasz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sniezewski
authors.forename: Monika
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kasztura
authors.forename: Lukasz
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Bzdzion
authors.forename: Malgorzata
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Cebrat
authors.forename: Pawel
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Kisielow
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites; D002460:Cell Line; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D018899:CpG Islands; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D016678:Genome; D057809:HEK293 Cells; D006801:Humans; D007438:Introns; D051379:Mice; D008957:Models, Genetic; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D041681:NIH 3T3 Cells; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000378:metabolism; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D045567:VDJ Recombinases / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors; C064655:V(D)J recombination activating protein 2; C491942:Zfp143 protein, mouse; D045567:VDJ Recombinases