Low M J, Lechan R M, Hammer R E, Brinster R L, Habener J F, Mandel G, Goodman R H
Science. 1986 Feb 28;231(4741):1002-4. doi: 10.1126/science.2868526.
Transgenic mice expressing a metallothionein-somatostatin fusion gene contain high concentrations of somatostatin in the anterior pituitary gland, a tissue that does not normally produce somatostatin. Immunoreactive somatostatin within the anterior pituitaries was found exclusively within gonadotrophs. Similarly, a metallothionein-human growth-hormone fusion gene was also expressed selectively in gonadotrophs. It is proposed that sequences common to the two fusion genes are responsible for the gonadotroph-specific expression.
