Mechanisms underlying generation of gradients in gene expression within the intestine: an analysis using transgenic mice containing fatty acid binding protein-human growth hormone fusion genes.

The intestine is lined by a continuously regenerating epithelium that maintains gradients in 'liver' fatty acid binding protein (L-FABP} gene expression along its horizontal and vertical axes, i.e., from duodenum to colon and from crypt to villus tip. To identify c/s-acting DNA sequences responsible for these regional differences, we linked portions of the L-FABP gene's 5' nontranscribed region to the human growth hormone (hGH) gene and examined hGH expression in transgenic mice. Nucleotides -596 to + 21 of the rat L-FABP gene correctly directed hGH expression to enterocytes and hepatocytes. However, anomalous expression was observed in small intestinal crypts, colon, and renal proximal tubular epithelial cells. Addition of nucleotides -4000 to -597 of the L-FABP gene, in either orientation, suppressed renal hGH expression and restored a nearly normal horizontal, but not a vertical, hGH gradient in the intestine. Thus, horizontal gradients of gene expression within the intestine can be maintained by orientation-independent, c/s-acting suppressor elements.