THE ENHANCER DOMAIN OF THE HUMAN CYTOMEGALOVIRUS MAJOR IMMEDIATE-EARLY PROMOTER DETERMINES CELL-TYPE-SPECIFIC EXPRESSION IN TRANSGENIC MICE

Citation
Jf. Baskar et al., THE ENHANCER DOMAIN OF THE HUMAN CYTOMEGALOVIRUS MAJOR IMMEDIATE-EARLY PROMOTER DETERMINES CELL-TYPE-SPECIFIC EXPRESSION IN TRANSGENIC MICE, Journal of virology, 70(5), 1996, pp. 3207-3214
Citations number
59
Categorie Soggetti
Virology
Journal title
ISSN journal
0022538X
Volume
70
Issue
5
Year of publication
1996
Pages
3207 - 3214
Database
ISI
SICI code
0022-538X(1996)70:5<3207:TEDOTH>2.0.ZU;2-K
Abstract
The human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) major immediate-early promoter (MIEP) is one of the first promoters to activate upon infection. To examine HCMV MIEP tissue-specific expression, transgenic mice were established containing the lacZ gene regulated by the MIEP (nucleotides -670 to 54). In the transgenic mice, lacZ expression was demonstrated in 19 of 29 tissues tested by histochemical and immunochemical analyses. These tissues included brain, eye, spinal cord, esophagus, stomach, pancrea s, kidney, bladder, testis, ovary, spleen, salivary gland, thymus, bon e marrow, skin, cartilage, and cardiac, striated and smooth muscles. A lthough expression was observed in multiple organs, promoter activity was restricted to specific cell types. The cell types which demonstrat ed HCMV MIEP expression included retinal cells of the eye, ductile cel ls of the salivary gland, exocrine cells of the pancreas, mucosal cell s of the stomach and intestine, neuronal cells of the brain, muscle fi bers, thecal cells of the-corpus luteum, and Leydig and sperm cells of the testis. These observations indicate that the HCMV MIEP is not a p an-specific promoter and that the majority of expressing tissues corre late with tissues naturally infected by the virus in the human host.