NERVE GROWTH-FACTOR INCREASES THE TRANSCRIPTIONAL ACTIVITY OF THE RATNEURONAL NICOTINIC ACETYLCHOLINE-RECEPTOR BETA-4 SUBUNIT PROMOTER IN TRANSFECTED PC12 CELLS

Neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptors play a key role in synaptic transmission in the nervous system. Although complementary DNA clones encoding a family of acetylcholine receptor subunits have been isolat ed and subsequent anatomical studies indicate differences in the tempo ral and spatially restricted patterns of expression of each gene, the cellular and molecular mechanisms controlling the expression of these genes are unknown. As part of a long-term goal to elucidate these mech anisms, we have been identifying and characterizing regions of the rec eptor subunit genes involved in transcriptional regulation. Here, we r eport the localization of the transcription initiation site of the rat beta 4 subunit gene, demonstrate using transient transfection analysi s of PC12 cells that sequences upstream of this site are capable of ac tivating transcription of a heterologous gene, and show that this tran scriptional activity is enhanced in PC12 cells by treatment with nerve growth factor.