Abstract
The mouse and humanCD3G andD genes are organized in opposite transcriptional orientation, their 5′ ends being separated by about 1.6 kilobases (kb) of DNA. The molecular basis of the tissue-specific regulation of expression of the humanCD3G andD genes was examined using DNase I hypersensitivity and CpG methylation analysis. Two T cell-specific DNase I hypersensitivity sites were defined within the intergenic region. A third hypersensitive site (DHS3) was detected 0.4 kb 3′ to theCD3D gene. This latter site was present in all T cells, but was absent in all other committed cell types examined. DHS3 was also detected in the lympho-myeloid progenitor cell KG1, but was absent when this line was induced to differentiate to the macrophage lineage. The intergenic region was undermethylated in T cells expressingCD3, but was in general more extensively methylated in other cell types. Importantly, however, in KG1 sublines which express theCD3 genes the intergenic region remains extensively methylated. These results define areas 3′ to theD gene and within the intergenic region which contain regulatory elements that influence bothCD3D andG expression. They further show that transcription form theCD3D andG genes may occur initially from a methylated promoter. Significantly, the 3′ regulatory region was shown to adopt an open chromatin structure prior to lineage commitment and beforeCD3 transcription.
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Flanagan, B.F., Wotton, D., Tuck-Wah, S. et al. DNase hypersensitivity and methylation of the humanCD3G andD genes during T-cell development. Immunogenetics 31, 13–20 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00702484
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00702484