Transcriptional Regulation of γ- and ε-Globin Genes
by Basic Krüppel-like Factor

MA Xiao-Yun, WANG Mang-Ju¹, QU Xiang-Hu, XING Gui-Chun, ZHU Yun-Ping, HE Fu-Chu*

( Beijing Institute of Radiation Medicine, Beijing 100850, China;
¹Department of Hematology, First Hospital of Peking University, Beijing 100034, China )

Abstract To study the transcription regulatory function of basic Krüppel-like factor（BKLF）on g- and e-globin genes, recombinant expression vectors containing the full-length human BKLF gene, and a deletion mutant that lost N-terminal 40 amino acids, were constructed and used, respectively, to transiently transfect COS7 cells in order to assay their reporter activities. Results showed that hBKLF was able to repress the activity of g- and e-globin gene promoters, while the antisense nucleic acid specific for hBKLF activated the transcription of these promoters. Deleting 40 amino acids from N-terminus did not influence the transcriptional repression of hBKLF. The stimulatory function of FKLF on g- and e-globin gene promoters was also significantly reduced by hBKLF. In addition, BKLF bound the CACCC element in the SHP1 (SH2 containing protein tyrosine phosphatase 1) gene promoter. These results suggest that g- and e-globin genes may be transcriptional targets of BKLF, providing evidence for further studies on the role of BKLF in participating the transcriptional regulation of haemocyte specific genes.

Key words BKLF; SHP1; reporter assay

Corresponding author: Tel,86-10-66931246; Fax, 86-10-68214653; e-mail, [email protected]