Expression of a rat vasopressin transgene in rat testes

Abstract

The rat vasopressin gene contains two transcriptional promoters; the activity of one is confined to the hypothalamus, while the other is testis specific. To define the sequences mediating the cell-specific expression of the vasopressin gene, we introduced rat vasopressin transgenes into the rat germ line. Neither transgene 1.5-Vβgal-0.2, which consists of the entire vasopressin structural gene containing a 3 kbp β-galactosidase reporter element in exon III, flanked by 1.5 kbp upstream of the start of hypothalamic transcription and 0.2 kbp downstream of the polyadenylation site, nor transgene 3-Vβgal-0.2, which consists of the entire VP structural gene containing a 3 kbp β-galactosidase reporter element in exon III, flanked by 3 kbp upstream of the start of hypothalamic transcription and 0.2 kbp downstream of the polyadenylation site, were expressed in the hypothalamus. This contrasts with a previously described transgene consisting of the rat vasopressin structural gene containing a reporter in exon III, flanked by 5 kbp of upstream and 3 kbp of downstream sequences, which is expressed in vasopressinergic hypothalamic neurones. Both the 3-Vβgal-0.2 and 1.5-Vβgal-0.2 transgenes were expressed in testicular germ cells using a promoter located within the β-galactosidase reporter element. Transgene RNA was most abundant during the late stages of meiosis. Rats bearing vasopressin-β-galactosidase transgenes provide new models for the study of the mechanisms whereby an epigenetic choice is made between the use of a germ cell or a somatic promoter, and the stage-specific transcriptional regulation of a germ cell promoter during spermatogenesis.