Transcriptional Regulation of Gene in Hezuo Tibetan Pigs: Roles of WT1, Sp1, and C/EBPα.

Heme oxygenase 1 () is a stress-inducing enzyme with multiple cardiovascular protective functions, especially in hypoxia stress. However, transcriptional regulation of swine gene remains unclear. In the present study, we first detected tissue expression profiles of gene in adult Hezuo Tibetan pig and analyzed the gene structure. We found that the expression level of gene was highest in the spleen of the Hezuo Tibetan pig, followed by liver, lung, and kidney. A series of 5' deletion promoter plasmids in pGL3-basic vector were used to identify the core promoter region and confirmed that the minimum core promoter region of swine gene was located at -387 bp to -158 bp region. Then we used bioinformatics analysis to predict transcription factors in this region. Combined with site-directed mutagenesis and RNA interference assays, it was demonstrated that the three transcription factors WT1, Sp1 and C/EBPα were important transcription regulators of gene. In summary, our study may lay the groundwork for further functional study of gene.