Hormone responsive elements within the upstream sequences of the rabbit whey acidic protein (WAP) gene direct chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) reporter gene expression in transfected rabbit mammary cells

• Published in: Molecular and cellular endocrinology Vol. 81; no. 1; pp. 185 - 193
• Main Authors: Devinoy, E., Maliénou-N'Gassa, R., Thépot, D., Puissant, C., Houdebine, L.M.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Shannon Elsevier Ireland Ltd 01.10.1991; Elsevier
• Subjects: Animals; beta-Galactosidase - genetics; Biological and medical sciences; Cells, Cultured; Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase - genetics; Female; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Expression Regulation; Glucocorticoid; Hydrocortisone - pharmacology; Insulin - pharmacology; Lactation - genetics; Life Sciences; Lipofection; Mammary Glands, Animal - cytology; Mammary Glands, Animal - physiology; Milk Proteins - genetics; Molecular and cellular biology; Molecular genetics; Organoid; Prolactin; Prolactin - pharmacology; Rabbits; Recombinant Proteins - genetics; Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid - genetics; Transcription. Transcription factor. Splicing. Rna processing; Transfection; Organoid; Lipofection; Prolactin; Glucocorticoid; Cell culture; Transcription; Rabbit; Flanking sequence; Lagomorpha; Gene expression; Response element; Vertebrata; Regulation(control); Mammalia; Reporter gene; Mammary gland; Whey protein; LOCALISATION; CULTURE DE CELLULE
• ISSN: 0303-7207; 1872-8057; 0303-7207
• DOI: 10.1016/0303-7207(91)90217-G

Whey acidic protein gene transcription is induced in the mammary gland under the influence of lactogenic hormones: prolactin, insulin and cortisol. The rabbit WAP gene has already been isolated and sequenced in a previous work. In the present study, we have evaluated the role of the 5' flanking region of the rabbit WAP gene in the transcriptional regulation of the WAP gene by using a reporter CAT gene. Chimeric genes containing the upstream region of the WAP gene have been linked to the bacterial CAT gene and transfected into rabbit primary mammary cells. The results reported here show that two regions carrying important regulatory elements of the rabbit WAP gene are located between -6300 and -3000 bp, and between -3000 and -1800 bp upstream from the WAP transcription start point, respectively. They contribute to the high level of expression of the rabbit WAP gene in the mammary cell.