Abstract
THE NF-κB/Rel family is a growing class of transcriptional regulators1–11 whose members share the conserved Rel-homology domain, involved in specific DNA binding and dimerization. They interact with the regulatory elements of many different genes and are involved in the regulation of lymphoid-specific and inducible transcription12. We tested whether these factors could alone activate a gene in transgenic mice. We report here that a minimal promoter containing three copies of a binding site for these proteins allows tissue-specific and inducible transgene activation. In lymphoid tissues constitutive transgene expression correlates with the presence of a constitutively active p50/RelB heterodimer. Other organs that only contain the p50 homodimer do not express the transgene. In contrast to this constitutive activity mediated by p50/RelB, the p50/p65 heterodimer (which is NF-κB) could confer inducible transgene activation in embryo fibroblasts. Thus two different members of the NF-κB/Rel family of transcriptional activators are involved in tissue-specific and inducible gene activation in transgenic mice.
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Lernbecher, T., Müller, U. & Wirth, T. Distinct NF-κB/Rel transcription factors are responsible for tissue-specific and inducible gene activation. Nature 365, 767–770 (1993). https://doi.org/10.1038/365767a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/365767a0
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