DIFFERENTIAL REGULATION OF GENES ENCODING SYNAPTIC PROTEINS BY THE OCT-2 TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR

In order to investigate the effect of the Oct-2 POU family transcripti on factor on the regulation of genes encoding synaptic proteins, we ha ve used cell lines in which the level of Oct-2 has been greatly reduce d using an antisense approach. The reduced Oct-2 level results in enha nced expression of SNAP-25 and synapsin I, indicating that the genes e ncoding these proteins are normally repressed by Oct-2 in neuronal cel ls. In contrast, no alteration was observed in the levels of the synap tic proteins, synaptophysin and synaptotagmin. Although the neuronal f orms of Oct-2 can repress the synapsin I promoter in co-transfection e xperiments, indicating that they have a direct effect on the expressio n of this gene, they have no effect on the activity of the SNAP-25 pro moter, indicating that the effect of Oct-2 on this gene is likely to b e indirect. These effects are discussed in terms of the differential e ffect of Oct-2 and the related POU family transcription factor Brn-3a, on the promoters of genes encoding different synaptic proteins. (C) 1 997 Elsevier Science B.V.