The developmentally regulated mammalian beta-globin genes are activated by a distant locus control region/enhancer. To understand the role of chromatin remodeling complexes in this activation, we used stably replicated chromatin templates, in which transcription activation of the human embryonic epsilon-globin gene depends on the tandem Maf-recognition elements (MAREs) within the beta-globin lo...

Using a luciferase reporter assay, we previously demonstrated that a Z-DNA-forming sequence of alternating thymine-guanine repeats in the human heme oxygenase-1 gene (HO-1) promoter is involved in nuclear factor erythroid-derived 2 (NF-E2)-related factor 2 (Nrf2)-mediated HO-1 promoter activation. However, the actual Z-DNA formation in this native genomic locus has not been experimentally demon...

c-Abl non-receptor tyrosine kinase has been implicated in many cellular processes including cell differentiation, stress response and regulating gene transcription. The mechanism by which c-Abl is involved in the regulation of gene transcription remains to be elucidated. In this study, we investigated the functions of c-Abl in the activation of p21 promoter. Our results showed that overexpressi...

PRL gene expression is dependent on the presence of the pituitary-specific transcription factor GHF-1/Pit-1, which is transcribed in a highly restricted manner in cells of the anterior pituitary. In pituitary GH3 cells, vitamin D increases the levels of PRL transcripts and stimulates the PRL promoter. We have analyzed the role of GHF-1 and of the vitamin D receptor (VDR) to confer vitamin D res...

Our previous studies have demonstrated that the level of the central transcription factor TATA-binding protein (TBP) is increased in cells expressing the hepatitis B virus (HBV) X protein through the activation of the Ras signaling pathway, which serves to enhance both RNA polymerase I and III promoter activities. To understand the mechanism by which TBP is regulated, we have investigated wheth...

Wei, Lei, Wei Zhou, Lu Wang, and Robert J. Schwartz. b1-Integrin and PI 3-kinase regulate RhoA-dependent activation of skeletal a-actin promoter in myoblasts. Am J Physiol Heart Circ Physiol 278: H1736–H1743, 2000.—RhoA GTPase, a regulator of actin cytoskeleton, is also involved in regulating c-fos gene expression through its effect on serum response factor (SRF) transcriptional activity. We ha...

In this study the further characterization of the Vicia faba leghaemoglobin promoter pVfLb29 is presented that was previously shown to be specifically active in the infected cells of root nodules and in arbuscule-containing cells of mycorrhizal roots. Using promoter studies in transgenic hairy roots of the Pisum sativum mutant RisNod24, disabled in the formation of functional arbuscules, VfLb29...

The murine neutrophil elastase (NE) gene is expressed specifically in immature myeloid cells. A 91-bp NE promoter region contains three cis elements which are conserved evolutionarily and are essential for activation of the promoter in differentiating 32D cl3 myeloid cells. These elements bound c-Myb (at -49), C/EBPalpha (at -57), and PU.1 (at -82). In NIH 3T3 cells, the NE promoter was activat...

IGF-I activates signaling pathways that increase the expression of muscle-specific genes in differentiating myoblasts. Induction of skeletal -actin expression occurs during differentiation through unknown mechanisms. The purpose of this investigation was to examine the mechanisms that IGF-I uses to induce skeletal -actin gene expression in C2C12 myoblasts. IGF-I increased skeletal -actin promot...

The mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV) promoter is induced by glucocorticoid hormone. A robust hormone- and receptor-dependent activation could be reproduced in Xenopus laevis oocytes. The homogeneous response in this system allowed a detailed analysis of the transition in chromatin structure following hormone activation. This revealed two novel findings: hormone activation led to the establishme...