Hw. Davey et al., THE NUCLEOTIDE-SEQUENCE, STRUCTURE, AND PRELIMINARY STUDIES ON THE TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATION OF THE BOVINE ALPHA-SKELETAL-ACTIN GENE, DNA and cell biology, 14(7), 1995, pp. 609-618
The promoters of mammalian striated muscle actin genes contain binding
sites for a number of transcription factors. Examples are the CArG bo
xes, which bind a protein identical to or related to serum response fa
ctor (SRF), E boxes, which bind myogenic determination factors such as
MyoD and myogenin, and -CCGCCC-moths, which bind the transcription fa
ctor Sp1. To date, the only mammalian sequences isolated and analyzed
are from rodent and human. We have now isolated and sequenced the bovi
ne gene encoding a skeletal actin, including almost 3 kb of 5'-flankin
g region. When compared to the human and rodent genes (the only ones p
reviously cloned and for which 5'-flanking sequences to only approxima
tely -750 are known), there was the expected conservation in the codin
g region. A comparison of the promoter regions indicated that the bovi
ne gene has three CArG boxes in the 5'-flanking region in positions id
entical to those in other species. The bovine proximal promoter is uni
que from those of human and rodent in that it has only one E box in th
e vicinity of the TATA box, near -350, whereas the other mammals have
three. Far upstream sequences reveal clusters of E boxes near -2,500 a
nd -1,500. A minimal promoter element, to -297, which has no E boxes,
is sufficient to activate transcription in myotubes derived from rat L
6 and mouse C2C12 myoblasts.