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An autoregulatory element of the murine Hox‐4.2 gene.
Author(s) -
Pöpperl H.,
Featherstone M.S.
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1992.tb05452.x
Subject(s) - biology , hox gene , gene , genetics , dna transposable elements , element (criminal law) , computational biology , microbiology and biotechnology , gene expression , transposable element , genome , political science , law
Hox‐4.2 promoter activity was assayed by transient expression assays in P19 embryonal carcinoma (EC) cells. Cotransfection of a luciferase reporter gene construct driven by Hox‐4.2 upstream sequences with an expression vector for the Hox‐4.2 gene product resulted in a 20‐fold increase in luciferase activity. This activity was specific in that the Hox‐1.6 gene product had no effect in the same assay. Mutational analysis defined a cis‐acting element with enhancer function which conferred most of this increase. Activation was largely dependent on two TAAT/ATTA motifs within this 217 bp fragment and HOX‐4.2 bound specifically to both of these motifs. The 217 bp element maps within a highly conserved region of the human Hox‐4.2 gene (HOX4B) which has been shown to display spatial enhancer activity in mice and flies. These findings suggest a conserved autoregulatory mechanism for the control of Hox‐4.2 expression.