A functional study of proximal goat β-casein promoter and intron 1 in immortalized goat mammary epithelial cells

Goat β-casein (CSN2) promoter has been extensively used to derive expression of recombinant therapeutic protein in transgenic goats; however, little direct evidence exists for signaling molecules and the cis-elements of goat CSN2 promoter in response to lactogenic hormone stimulation in goat mammary epithelial cells. Here, we use an immortalized caprine mammary epithelial cell line (CMC) to search for evidence of the above. Serial 5'-flanking regions deleted of promoter and intron 1 in goat CSN2 (-4,047 to +2,054) driven by firefly luciferase reporter gene were constructed and applied to measure promoter activity in CMC. The intron 1 region (+393 to +501) significantly decreased basal activity of the promoter. This finding contradicts other studies of the role of intron 1. The signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT)5a played a significant role in activating promoter activity by prolactin stimulation. Hydrocortisone enhanced and prolonged the activity of STAT5a and promoter in CMC, but was independent of the glucocorticoid receptor response element. The minimum length of the CSN2 promoter segment in response to lactogenic stimulation was confirmed by 5' serial deletions. A cis-element located from -300 to -90 in proximal goat CSN2 promoter that is absent in bovine and human CSN2 promoter was newly identified. We demonstrated the presence of a STAT5a binding site (-102 to -82) and preservation of the guanosine nucleotide at position -90 based on responses to the presence of lactogenic hormone using internal deletions and point mutations of the predicted STAT5a binding site, and chromatin immunoprecipitation assay. Together, these findings demonstrate that the proximal -300 bp of goat CSN2 promoter containing the STAT5a binding site (-102 to -82) is the response element for lactogenic hormone stimulation. Additionally, intron 1 may be required for tissue or developmental stage-specific expression in mammary gland. The role of the far-distal regions of goat CSN2 promoter in high-level lactogenic hormone induction and specific expression require further examination.