title: Application of the cis-regulatory region of a heat-shock protein 70 gene to heat-inducible gene expression in the ascidian Ciona intestinalis.
abstract: Temporally controlled induction of gene expression is a useful technique for analyzing gene function. To make such a technique possible in Ciona intestinalis embryos, we employed the cis-regulatory region of the heat-shock protein 70 (HSP70) gene Ci-HSPA1/6/7-like for heat-inducible gene expression in C. intestinalis embryos. We showed that Ci-HSPA1/6/7-like becomes heat shock-inducible by the 32-cell stage during embryogenesis. The 5'-upstream region of Ci-HSPA1/6/7-like, which contains heat-shock elements indispensable for heat-inducible gene expression, induces the heat shock-dependent expression of a reporter gene in the whole embryo from the 32-cell to the middle gastrula stages and in progressively restricted areas of embryos in subsequent stages. We assessed the effects of heat-shock treatments in different conditions on the normality of embryos and induction of transgene expression. We evaluated the usefulness of this technique through overexpression experiments on the well-characterized, developmentally relevant gene, Ci-Bra, and showed that this technique is applicable for inferring the gene function in C. intestinalis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Bioscience, Faculty of Bioscience, Nagahama Institute of Bio-Science and Technology, Nagahama, Shiga, Japan.
authors.forename: Akane
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kawaguchi
authors.forename: Nanami
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Utsumi
authors.forename: Maki
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Morita
authors.forename: Aya
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ohya
authors.forename: Shuichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Wada
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002938:Ciona intestinalis / Q000196:embryology* / Q000235:genetics*; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D018869:Heat-Shock Response; D006358:Hot Temperature; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid
chemical_list: D018840:HSP70 Heat-Shock Proteins
keywords: Ci-Bra; Ci-HSPA1/6/7-like; HSP70; cis-regulatory region