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Development 129, 4387-4397 (2002)
© 2002 The Company of Biologists Limited

Cement gland-specific activation of the Xag1 promoter is regulated by co-operation of putative Ets and ATF/CREB transcription factors

Fiona C. Wardle*, Daniel H. Wainstock and Hazel L. Sive{dagger}

Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Nine Cambridge Center, Cambridge, MA 02142, USA
* Present address: Wellcome Trust/Cancer Research UK Institute, Tennis Court Road, Cambridge CB2 1QR, UK

{dagger}Author for correspondence (e-mail: sive{at}wi.mit.edu)

Accepted 21 June 2002

The cement gland marks the extreme anterior ectoderm of the Xenopus embryo, and is determined through the overlap of several positional domains. In order to understand how these positional cues activate cement gland differentiation, the promoter of Xag1, a marker of cement gland differentiation, was analyzed. Previous studies have shown that Xag1 expression can be activated by the anterior-specific transcription factor Otx2, but that this activation is indirect. 102 bp of upstream genomic Xag1 sequence restricts reporter gene expression specifically to the cement gland. Within this region, putative binding sites for Ets and ATF/CREB transcription factors are both necessary and sufficient to drive cement gland-specific expression, and cooperate to do so. Furthermore, while the putative ATF/CREB factor is activated by Otx2, a factor acting through the putative Ets-binding site is not. These results suggest that Ets-like and ATF/CREB-like family members play a role in regulating Xag1 expression in the cement gland, through integration of Otx2 dependent and independent pathways.

Key words: Xag1, Xenopus, Anterior, Ectoderm, Transgenic, Promoter analysis, Ets, ATF/CREB, Cement gland






© The Company of Biologists Ltd 2002