S. Hsuwong et al., TISSUE-SPECIFIC AND DEVELOPMENTALLY-REGULATED EXPRESSION OF HUMAN ELASTIN PROMOTER ACTIVITY IN TRANSGENIC MICE, The Journal of biological chemistry, 269(27), 1994, pp. 18072-18075
We have recently cloned the entire human elastin gene, including simil
ar to 5.2 kilobases of the 5'-flanking sequences. To examine tissue-sp
ecific expression of the elastin gene, we have developed a transgenic
mouse line that expresses the human elastin promoter linked to the chl
oramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene. Assay of CAT activ
ity in different tissues revealed the highest expression in the lungs
and aorta, while lower levels were detected in the kidneys, heart, bra
in, and skin; this distribution parallels the accumulation of elastin
in developing animals. Comparison of CAT activity in the lungs of feta
l (15-day gestation) and newborn (5-day postnatal) animals revealed si
gnificantly (similar to 4-fold) higher activity in the fetal tissue. T
he relatively high activity in the lungs progressively declined during
the postnatal period up to 6 months. The promoter activity in the aor
ta remained constant from 5 days to 3 months and then gradually declin
ed, while in the skin, the activity peaked at 3 months, returning ther
eafter to the control (5-day) level. Thus, there is evidence for devel
opmentally regulated, tissue specific expression of the elastin promot
er in vivo as tested in these transgenic mice.