Ghebranious N, Knoll B J, Yavorkovsky L, Ilic Z, Papaconstantinou J, Lozano G, Sell S
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Texas Medical School, Houston 77025, USA.
Mol Reprod Dev. 1995 Sep;42(1):1-6. doi: 10.1002/mrd.1080420102.
A truncated mouse alphafetoprotein (AFP) gene promoter/enhancer region was tested for its ability to regulate the expression of the Escherichia coli chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene in the livers of transgenic mice. The AFP regulatory region lacked any AFP gene structural DNA, included one enhancer sequence together with the proximal promoter sequence, and an element believed to be responsible for the postnatal repression of AFP gene transcription. The neonatal livers of AFP/CAT transgenic mice showed a high level of CAT enzyme expression, which was dramatically reduced between 7 and 14 days after birth. The staining of liver sections with anti-CAT antibodies showed that this expression was limited to hepatocytes. In one lineage, reexpression of CAT in the adult liver could be achieved by restitutive proliferation of hepatocytes following partial hepatectomy or CCl4-induced necrosis; reexpression in young animals (3-4 weeks of age) was even greater. These studies show that a truncated AFP promoter/enhancer region functions in a tissue-specific and developmental stage-specific fashion, and may be used to control the expression of other genes in the livers of transgenic mice.
对截短的小鼠甲胎蛋白（AFP）基因启动子/增强子区域进行了检测，以评估其调控转基因小鼠肝脏中大肠杆菌氯霉素乙酰转移酶（CAT）报告基因表达的能力。AFP调控区域不含任何AFP基因结构DNA，包含一个增强子序列以及近端启动子序列，还有一个被认为负责AFP基因转录出生后抑制的元件。AFP/CAT转基因小鼠的新生肝脏显示出高水平的CAT酶表达，在出生后7至14天之间显著降低。用抗CAT抗体对肝脏切片进行染色显示，这种表达仅限于肝细胞。在一个品系中，成年肝脏中CAT的重新表达可通过部分肝切除或CCl4诱导的坏死之后肝细胞的恢复性增殖来实现；在幼龄动物（3至4周龄）中的重新表达甚至更高。这些研究表明，截短的AFP启动子/增强子区域以组织特异性和发育阶段特异性的方式发挥作用，并且可用于控制转基因小鼠肝脏中其他基因的表达。
