Lens-specific expression and developmental regulation of the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene driven by the murine alpha A-crystallin promoter in transgenic mice

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Dec;82(23):7815-9. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.23.7815.

Abstract

Two lines of transgenic mice with one to two copies of a DNA fragment containing nucleotides -364 to +45 of the murine alpha A-crystallin gene linked to the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene expressed the CAT gene only in their eye lenses. Both CAT activity and alpha A-crystallin were first detected in eyes at approximately 12.5 days of embryonic development, suggesting that the alpha A-CAT fusion gene and the endogenous alpha A-crystallin gene are co-regulated during lens development in the transgenic mice. These experiments show that the murine alpha A-crystallin gene contains a short, cis-acting, tissue-specific regulatory sequence at its 5' end that can target the expression of the bacterial CAT gene, and probably foreign eukaryotic genes, specifically to the ocular lens.

MeSH terms

  • Acetyltransferases / genetics
  • Animals
  • Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase
  • Crystallins / genetics*
  • DNA, Recombinant
  • Gene Expression Regulation
  • Genetic Engineering
  • Lens, Crystalline / embryology
  • Lens, Crystalline / physiology*
  • Mice
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic*
  • RNA, Messenger / genetics

Substances

  • Crystallins
  • DNA, Recombinant
  • RNA, Messenger
  • Acetyltransferases
  • Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase