Developmental genes can harbour multiple transcriptional enhancers that act simultaneously or in succession to achieve robust and precise spatiotemporal expression. However, the mechanisms underlying cooperation between cis-acting elements are poorly documented, notably in vertebrates. The mouse gene Krox20 encodes a transcription factor required for the specification of two segments (rhombomer...

In latently infected neurons, herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2) expresses one abundant family of transcripts, the latency-associated transcripts (LATs). We demonstrate here that the sequence lying about 700 bp upstream of the 5' end of the HSV-2 major LAT acts as a very strong promoter in transient expression assays in both neuronal and nonneuronal cells. Transcription starts about 27 to 32 b...

The Na+/H+exchanger ( NHE-2) has been implicated in osmoregulation in the kidney, because it transports Na+ across the cell membrane and efficiently alters intracellular osmolarity. On hyperosmotic stress, NHE-2 mRNA increases in abundance in mouse inner medullary collecting duct (mIMCD-3) cells, suggesting possible transcriptional regulation. To investigate the molecular mechanism of potential...

We perform finite element simulations of aggregates in shear flow environments, in order to improve the model of hydrodynamic forces used for discrete element simulations. The mechanistic model for the discrete element simulations implies until now the so-called free-draining approximation for the fluid forces which is a drastic simplification. From the finite element simulations we extract the...

BACKGROUND At least three cis-acting regulatory elements are required for expression of the rat atrial natriuretic factor (ANF) gene. One distal cis-acting regulatory element lies more than 640 base pairs from the transcription initiation site. METHODS AND RESULTS In this report, we identify two other proximal regulatory elements that lie within 609 base pairs of the transcription initiation ...

The regulation of osteocalcin gene expression by 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 is mediated by the vitamin D receptor and a cis-acting DNA response element that has been identified within the 5' region of the osteocalcin promoter. In this report, we show that vitamin D receptors derived from nuclear extracts of mammalian cells bind directly to this cis-acting element in vitro and do so in a manner re...

To identify cis-acting elements in the foamy virus (FV) RNA pregenome, we developed a transient-vector-production system based on cotransfection of indicator gene-bearing vector and gag-pol and env expression plasmids. Two elements which were critical for vector transfer were found and mapped approximately. The first element was located in the RU5 leader and the 5' gag region (approximately up ...

Transcription of the POL1 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, which encodes DNA polymerase alpha, the DNA polymerase required for the initiation of DNA replication, has previously been shown to be cell cycle regulated. To understand how the POL1 gene senses cell cycle position, we have investigated the cis-acting elements that respond to the factors that govern cell cycle progression. In this rep...

Apoplastic ascorbate oxidase (AO) plays significant roles in plant cell growth. However, the mechanism of underlying the transcriptional regulation of AO in Gossypium hirsutum remains unclear. Here, we obtained a 1,920-bp promoter sequence from the Gossypium hirsutum ascorbate oxidase (GhAO1) gene, and this GhAO1 promoter included a number of known cis-elements. Promoter activity analysis in ov...

Insulin production in pancreatic beta cells is predominantly regulated through glucose control of proinsulin translation. Previously, this was shown to require sequences within the untranslated regions (UTRs) of the preproinsulin (ppI) mRNA. Here, those sequences were found to be sufficient for specific glucose-regulated proinsulin translation. Furthermore, an element 40-48 bp from the 5' end o...