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Reporter gene expression in cones in transgenic mice carrying bovine rhodopsin promoter/lacZ transgenes

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 June 2009

Peter Gouras ,
Hild Kjeldbye  and
Donald J. Zack
Peter Gouras
Affiliation:
Department of Ophthalmology, Harkness Eye Institute, Columbia University, New York
Hild Kjeldbye
Affiliation:
Department of Ophthalmology, Harkness Eye Institute, Columbia University, New York
Donald J. Zack*
Affiliation:
Departments of Ophthalmology, Molecular Biology and Genetics, and Neuroscience, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore
*
Address correspondence to: Donald J. Zack, Wilmer Institute, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, 809 Maumenee, 600N. Wolfe street, Baltimore, MD 21205, USA
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Abstract

Rhodopsin gene expression has been used as a model system to study the mechanisms regulating photoreceptor gene expression. Previous transgenic experiments using rhodopsin promoter/lacZ fusion constructs identified some of the cis-acting DNA elements responsible for photoreceptor cell-specific expression. However, the issue of rod specificity vs. photoreceptor (rod and cone) specificity of the elements was not resolved. To address this issue, the specificity of reporter gene expression in the retinas of transgenic mice carrying bovine rhodopsin promoter/lacZ (ß-galactosidase) fusion genes was assessed using X-gal staining and electron microscopy. Two independent transgenic lines, one carrying a rhodopsin promoter fragment extending from −2174 to +70 base pairs (bp) relative to the messenger RNA start site and another line carrying a fragment from −222 to +70 bp, both showed reporter gene expression in cones as well as rods, although the level of staining appeared to be less in the cones than in the rods. These results demonstrate that the −2174 to +70 bp and −222 to +70 bp bovine rhodopsin promoter fragments are not rod-specific in transgenic mice and indicate that the existence of rod promoter mediated-expression in cones must be considered when interpreting results from transgenic experiments utilizing the rhodopsin promoter.

Keywords

Rhodopsin promoterRetinal gene expressionPhotoreceptorsConesTransgenic mice
Type
Short Communications
Information
Visual Neuroscience , Volume 11 , Issue 6 , November 1994 , pp. 1227 - 1231
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1994

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