Sequences 5′ of the homeobox of the Hox-1.4 gene direct tissue-specific expression of lacZ during mouse development

The murine homeobox-containing gene Hox-1.4 is expressed in restricted patterns during embryogenesis and in male germ cells. To begin identification of the cis-acting elements regulating this expression, transgenic mice were generated carrying a chimeric construct that contained approx. 4 kb of 5′ flanking sequence and approx. 1 kb of structural gene, fused in frame to the E. coli lacZ gene. This construct directed expression of the resulting Hox-1.4,β-galactosidase fusion protein in a pattern that reproduced virtually the complete embryonic and adult sites of expression of the endogenous gene. Embryonic expression of the fusion protein was first detected in mesoderm at day 8.0 of gestation (E 8.0). Between gestational ages E 8.5 to E 12.5, β-gal expression was observed in the somites, the lateral walls of the posterior myelencephalon, the dorsal region and ventral wall of the spinal cord, spinal ganglia and pre-vertebrae and their surrounding mesenchyme, between presumptive ribs, as well as in mesenchymal layers in the lung, kidney and portions of the gut. Expression was also noted in the pancreas and in the supporting cells and sheath around subsets of peripheral nerves, sites that had not been detected previously. Adult expression was observed in testes, specifically in meiotic and post-meiotic male germ cells. In contrast, transgenic mice carrying 5′ deletions of the construct which leave approx. 1.2 kb or approx. 2.0 kb of Hox-1.4 sequence 5′ to the embryonic promoter, did not exhibit β-gal staining. These deletion experiments defined at least one cis-acting control element necessary for the expression of the Hox-1.4 gene to a 2 kb region located 2 to 4 kb 5′ of the embryonic transcription start site.