Cloning and preliminary characterization of the rat estrogen sulfotransferase gene 5 '-region

A genomic fragment containing two first exons, putative promoter and the 5' -flanking region of the rat estrogen sulfotransferase gene, which is specif ically expressed in male and inactive in female liver, was cloned and seque nced. The nucleotide sequence analysis of the cloned fragment revealed a nu mber of structural elements which may play an important role in the regulat ion of the gene expression. There is a potential matrix attachment region i mmediately upstream of the gene. It separates the estrogen sulfotransferase gene from a CpG-rich region and a long terminal repeat of a retrovirus-lik e element NICER. DNase I footprinting with rat liver nuclear extracts detec ted two protein-binding sites at positions -131/-113 and -89/-67 with respe ct to the transcription initiation site. The -131/-113 region contains the 5'-half of the estrogen-responsive element (ERE) palindrome (5'-TGACCT-3') and the AP-1 recognition motif (5'-TGACTAA-3'). Within the -89/-67 region t here are recognition sites for the NF-IL6 (5'-ATTACATCA-3') and the AP-2 (5 '-CCCATCCC-3') factors. Since no marked differences were observed in the fo otprints obtained using male and female liver nuclear extracts, one can sug gest that the interactions of the listed factors with the regions -131/-113 and -89/-67 are not sufficient for activating the estrogen sulfotransferas e gene transcription.