Tissue-specific changes in chromatin structure of the rat aldolase B locus

Chromatin structures of the aldolase B gene locus in repressed and derepressed states were examined by DNase I digestion. Within the gene locus, several structural features were observed with respect to the sensitivity to DNase I; hypersensitive sites, relatively resistant regions, and preferential cleavage sites within the resistant regions. The hypersensitive sites and the resistant regions are tissue- or cell-specifically distributed, but are not simply related to the active or inactive state chromatin. Among these structural features, however, a DNase I-hypersensitive site located about 0.3 kilobase pairs (kb) upstream from the transcription-initiation site is characteristic only in transcriptionally active tissues or cells (liver, kidney and Morris hepatoma 5123D). In addition, analysis with nuclei of fetal liver cells indicated that this hypersensitive site is constructed prior to the transcriptional activation of the aldolase B gene during development. These results may indicate that the structural alteration in chromatin at the 0.3 kb upstream site is related to the regulation of the aldolase B gene expression.