Contractile proteins are encoded by multigene families, most of whose members are differentially expressed in fast- versus slow-twitch myofibers. This fiber-type-specific gene regulation occurs by unknown mechanisms and does not occur within cultured myocytes. We have developed a transient, whole-animal assay using somatic gene transfer to study this phenomenon and have identified a fiber-type-specific regulatory element within the promoter region of a slow myofiber-specific gene. A plasmid-borne luciferase reporter gene fused to various muscle-specific contractile gene promoters was differentially expressed when injected into slow- versus fast-twitch rat muscle: the luciferase gene was preferentially expressed in slow muscle when fused to a slow troponin I promoter, and conversely, was preferentially expressed in fast muscle when fused to a fast troponin C promoter. In contrast, the luciferase gene was equally well expressed by both muscle types when fused to a nonfiber-type-specific skeletal actin promoter. Deletion analysis of the troponin I promoter region revealed that a 157-bp enhancer conferred slow-muscle-preferential activity upon a minimal thymidine kinase promoter. Transgenic analysis confirmed the role of this enhancer in restricting gene expression to slow-twitch myofibers. Hence, somatic gene transfer may be used to rapidly define elements that direct myofiber-type- specific gene expression prior to the generation of transgenic mice.
CITATION STYLE
Corin, S. J., Levitt, L. K., O’Mahoney, J. V., Joya, J. E., Hardeman, E. C., & Wade, R. (1995). Delineation of a slow-twitch-myofiber-specific transcriptional element by using in vivo somatic gene transfer. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 92(13), 6185–6189. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.92.13.6185
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