DNase I-hypersensitive sites I and II of the human growth hormone locus control region are a major developmental activator of somatotrope gene expression.

ABSTRACT: High-level expression of the human growth hormone (hGH) gene is limited to somatotrope and lactosomatotrope cells of the anterior pituitary. We previously identified a locus control region (LCR) for the hGH gene composed of four tissue-specific DNase I-hypersensitive sites (HS) located between -14.6 kb and -32 kb 5' to the hGH transcription start site that is responsible for establishing a physiologically regulated chromatin domain for hGH transgene expression in mouse pituitary. In the present study we demonstrated that the LCR mediates somatotrope and lactosomatotrope restriction on an otherwise weakly and diffusely expressed hGH transgene. The subregion of the LCR containing the two pituitary-specific HS, HSI and HSII (-14.6 to -16.2 kb relative to the hGH promoter and denoted HSI,II),

SUBMITTER: Bennani-Baiti IM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC27950 | biostudies-literature | 1998 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature