IDENTIFICATION OF A NUCLEAR-PROTEIN BINDING-ELEMENT WITHIN THE RAT-BRAIN PROTEIN-KINASE-C GAMMA PROMOTER THAT IS RELATED TO THE DEVELOPMENTAL CONTROL OF THIS GENE

Protein kinase C gamma (PKC gamma) is a brain-specific isozyme express ed at a high level in the adult but not in the fetal or newborn rat. A t least seventeen nuclear protein binding sites within the 5'-flanking region extending from - 1612 to +243 had been identified by DNase I f ootprinting analysis and gel mobility shift assays. Among them, one si te, GAATTAATAGG, at -669 to -679 is protected from DNase I digestion b y nuclear protein from newborn but not from the adult rat brain. The l evels of this binding protein, as determined by gel mobility shift ass ay, were found inversely related to the levels of PKC gamma in rat bra in at different stages of development. These results suggest that this particular binding site may participate in the developmental regulati on of PKC gamma gene.