Am. Meng et S. Lin, Tissue-specific expression of GFP reporter gene in germline driven by GATA-2 promoter and enhancers in zebrafish, CHIN SCI B, 45(1), 2000, pp. 31
GATA-2, a transcription factor, is expressed in several types of blood cell
s and in the central nervous system (CNS), and regulates the differentiatio
n of these cells. We have obtained five zebrafish transgenic germlines that
carry and express the green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene ligated to vari
ous 5' flanking sequences of zebrafish GATA-2 gene. The spatial pattern of
GFP expression varies, mainly depending on which regulatory sequence is use
d, among the germlines. In some of the germlines, the expression of GFP is
restricted to the CNS and the enveloping layer (EVL) cells, while in some o
ther lines GFP is observed only in the CNS. It is noted that the intensity
of GFP in the transgenic fish remain unchanged after a six-generation passa
ge of the transgenes. The transgenic fish could find its uses in the future
in generating tissue-specific, even cellspecific mutant fish and in functi
onal study of related genes through transgenesis.