Bidirectional activity and orientation-dependent specificity of the rat aldolase C promoter in transgenic mice

We previously reported that the rat aldolase C 115 bp promoter is sufficient to ensure the brain specific expression of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter gene in transgenic mice. We identify in a further reduced 84 bp promoter several putative binding sites for the transcriptional factors Sp1, USF, AP1, and AP2. Deletion or mutation of these partially overlapping binding sites results in inactivation of the cognate transgenes. Moreover, we show that the 115 bp sequence is able to direct bidirectional transcription in vivo but, surprisingly, transcriptional activity in the opposite direction is no more brain specific.