Volume 270,
Number 22,
Issue of June 2, pp. 13298-13302, 1995
©1995 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.
Tissue-specific
Transcriptional Regulation of Human Leukosialin (CD43) Gene Is Achieved
by DNA Methylation
Shinichi
Kudo
,
Minoru
Fukuda
The expression of human leukosialin (CD43), a major
sialoglycoprotein on the surface of hematopoietic cells, is regulated
in cell lineage-specific as well as differentiation stage-specific
manners. We have shown previously that transcription from the TATA-less
promoter is mediated by the transcription factor Sp1, which binds to
repeats of a GGGTGG motif in the 5`-flanking sequence. This regulatory
region is ubiquitously functional in mammalian cells, providing a high
transcriptional potential. No cis-acting element responsible
for the specificity of this gene expression was revealed by extensive
studies using transient as well as stable expression systems. Here, we
demonstrate that DNA methylation plays a key role in leukosialin gene
expression. Southern blot analysis of genomic DNAs from various human
cell lines with methylation-sensitive and -insensitive restriction
enzymes showed a tight correlation between gene activity and
demethylation state of the 5`-region of the leukosialin gene.
Consistent results were obtained from the same analysis of genomic DNAs
from various human tissues. In addition, in vitro DNA
methylation of the 5`-region drastically reduced transcriptional
activity in a transient expression system. These results indicate that
DNA methylation around the 5`-region of the leukosialin gene is
required to shut off a high level of transcription. Thus, the
tissue-specific expression of the leukosialin gene is constitutively
achieved by alteration of DNA methylation.