Isolation and characterization of the murine transforming growth factor-beta 2 promoter

This report describes the isolation and characterization of the 5' flanking region of the murine transforming growth factor beta-2 (TGF-beta2) gene. A genomic clone containing the promoter region of the gene was isolated afte r screening a bacteriophage Pi genomic library. The resulting clone was seq uenced and compared to promoters for the human and chicken TGF-beta2 genes. The sequence located near the transcription start site is highly conserved . It includes a TATA box, an E-box, and a largely conserved CRE/ATF site. A series of murine TGF-beta2 promoter/reporter constructs was generated to i dentify regulatory regions of the gene. As in the case of the human TGF-bet a2 gene, sequences just upstream of the TATA box, including the CRE/ATF sit e, actively stimulate the murine TGF-beta2 promoter. However, unlike the hu man TGF-beta2 gene. the 5' flanking region of the murine TGF-beta2 gene con tains a long alternating purine/pyrimidine repeat that unexpectedly exerts a strong positive effect on its promoter. This is of particular interest si nce alternating purine/pyrimidine repeats in other promoters have been obse rved to be inhibitory. (C) 2001 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.