TRANSCRIPTIONAL SILENCER OF THE WILMS-TUMOR GENE WT1 CONTAINS AN ALU REPEAT

Expression of the Wilms' tumor gene WT1 is tightly regulated throughou t development. In constrast, the WT1 promoter is promiscuous, function ing in all cell lines tested, We have cloned a transcriptional silence r that is involved in regulation of the WT1 gene. The transcriptional silencer is located in the third intron of the WT1 gene, approximately 12 kilobases from the promoter, and functions to repress transcriptio n from the WT1 promoter in cell lines of non-renal origin. The 460-bas e pair silencer region is unusual in that it contains a full-length Al u repeat. We have also cloned an enhancer like-element located 1.3 kil obases upstream of the WT1 promoter.