ANALYSIS OF TEMPORAL EXPRESSION PATTERN AND CIS-REGULATORY SEQUENCES OF CHICKEN PEPSINOGEN-A AND PEPSINOGEN-C

Three groups of pepsinogens exist in vertebrates, namely, pepsinogen A , pepsinogen C, and prochymosin, which are produced at different devel opmental stages. In the chicken, prochymosin is expressed only in the embryonic stage, while pepsinogens A and C are secreted from adult chi cken proventricular (glandular stomach) mucosa. In order to understand the mechanism of transcriptional regulation of these genes, we have c loned the genes encoding chicken pepsinogens A and C and analyzed the sequences possibly involved in their regulation. 5'-Upstream sequences of both genes contain putative binding motifs for transcription facto rs such as GATA, Sox, and HNF-3 beta, which are expressed in the chick en gut epithelium. Moreover, we found seven putative binding motifs fo r human MZF-1 in intron 8 of pepsinogen A gene. These transcription fa ctors may act as regulators of expression of chicken pepsinogen genes. (C) 1998 Academic Press.