The Regulation of Xmyf-5 Gene, a Muscle
Determinant, Expression in Xenopus Laevis
MEI Wen-Yan, YANG Jing, TAO Qing-Hua and DING Xiao-Yan
( Shanghai Institute of Cell Biology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences,
Shanghai 200031, China )
Abstract Xmyf-5 gene is a member of the
myogenic regulatory genes important for Xenopus muscle cell commitment
and differentiation. To analyze the mechanism involved in regulating Xmyf-5
gene activity in the process of myogenesis, the 4.9 kb 5＇ upstream sequence of Xmyf-5
was identified. LacZ gene could be activated in the presomitic
mesoderm in stage 14 embryos and myotomes in stage 25 embryos when it was
driven by the 4.9 kb sequence and introduced into embryos at 2 cell stage. The
Luciferase reporter gene activities driven by deletion constructs suggested
that there are at least one enhancer between 4.9 kb and 3.5 kb of Xmyf-5
5＇
upstream DNA and one negatively regulative factor between 2.0 kb and 0.9 kb of
the Xmyf-5 5＇ upstream DNA. In addition, sequence
analysis indicated that a 100 bp fragment 5＇ upstream of Xmyf-5 contained
conserved regulative elements such as OLS which were found in other
vertebrates.
Key Words Xmyf-5； upstream sequence； enhancer； Xenopus
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