Activity assays of nine heterogeneous promoters in neural and other cultured cells

  • Ken-Ichiro Fukuchi
  • Mark G. Hearn
  • Samir S. Deeb
  • Annette C. Smith
  • Ngocthao Dang
  • Jun-Ichi Miyazaki
  • Mark Bothwell
  • George M. Martin
Biotechnology

Summary

To express high levels of proteins encoded by transfected DNA constructs in a variety of cultured cells, including neuronal cells, the activities of nine different promoters were evaluated usingEscherichia coli β-galactosidase (β-gal) (LacZ) as a reporter gene. These nine promoters were categorized into three distinct groups (high, intermediate, and low expresser), in terms of the levels ofβ-gal expression. An expression vector containing the cytomegalovirus enhancer and the chickβ-actin promoter (high expresser) showed the highest levels of expression, followed by vectors containing the cytomegalovirus promoter/enhancer and the SV40 promoter/enhancer (intermediate expresser). The rest of the promoters (thymidine kinase, adenovirus, murine proliferative sarcoma virus, nerve growth factor receptor, Rous sarcoma and mouse mammary tumor virus, andβ-amyloid precursor protein) expressed low levels ofβ-gal. These results were consistent for eight different cell types. A particularly attractive model is the stem cell, P19; cultures differentiating into progeny consisting predominantly of cholinergic neurons could be readily transfected with expression vectors using liposomes and expressedβ-gal without significant morphologic changes of the differentiated neurons. The systems should be useful for the study of promoters and various expressed proteins, including those involved in axonal transport.

Key words

promoter transfection neuron differentiation β-galactosidase gene transfer 

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Copyright information

© Tissue Culture Association 1994

Authors and Affiliations

  • Ken-Ichiro Fukuchi
    • 1
  • Mark G. Hearn
    • 1
  • Samir S. Deeb
    • 2
  • Annette C. Smith
    • 1
  • Ngocthao Dang
    • 1
  • Jun-Ichi Miyazaki
    • 3
  • Mark Bothwell
    • 4
  • George M. Martin
    • 1
  1. 1.Department of PathologyUniversity of WashingtonSeattle
  2. 2.Department of Medicine and GeneticsUniversity of WashingtonSeattle
  3. 3.Department of Disease-related Gene Regulation Research (Sandoz), Faculty of MedicineThe University of TokyoTokyoJapan
  4. 4.Department of Physiology and BiophysicsUniversity of WashingtonSeattle

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