Characterization of hypersensitive sites, protein-binding motifs, and regulatory elements in both promoters of the mouse porphobilinogen deaminase gene

To characterize the gene regulatory elements involved in the tissue-specific promoter utilization of the murine porphobilinogen deaminase gene, we have performed the following studies: 1) six nuclear DNase I-hypersensitive sites (DHS) 1 in the porphobilinogen deaminase gene locus were mapped in erythroid and nonerythroid cells; 2) four of these DHSs, including both promoter sequences, were analyzed for in vitro nuclear protein-binding sites using footprint protection and gel shift assays; and 3) the ability of gene sequences to drive the tissue-specific expression of a reporter gene assayed in transfection studies was examined