活化T细胞核因子对组成性启动子SV40的调控作用

Effects of nuclear factor of activated T cells on the promoter activity of constitutively activated SV40

目的:利用双荧光素酶报告系统探讨活化T细胞核因子(NFAT)能否调控常见组成性启动子CMV,SV40和TK,为不同条件下选择合适双荧光报告系统内参提供依据。方法:用限制性内切酶BglⅡ和HindⅢ分别从质粒pCDNA3.1和pRL-TK中切下CMV和TK启动子,克隆至pGL3-basic载体中,构建成pCMV-Luc和pTK-Luc载体。将构建pCMV-Luc和pTK-Luc以及商品化的pGL3-control(SV40启动子驱动),分别与SV40(pBIND)和TK(pRL-TK)两种启动子驱动的两种内参质粒共转染入HEK293细胞;观察过表达组成性活化NFAT后相对荧光素酶活性读数的改变。结果:成功构建了pCMV-Luc和pTK-Luc质粒,荧光素酶活性检测发现,常见组成性启动子SV40启动子对过表达组成性活化的NFAT存在一定的反应。结论:T细胞活化过程中重要的转录因子NFAT能够调控SV40启动子活性;表明常见组成性启动子SV40并非真正、绝对的组成性不变。因此,在荧光素酶报告系统内参选择时需要充分考虑该问题,本研究为合理选择内参质粒提供了一个可行策略。

AIM： To check if the common used consti- tutively promoters, such as CMV, TK and SV40 could be responded to the nuclear factor of activated T cell （ NFAT）, and to explore the strategies to choose rational internal control in the dual luciferase reporter assay. METHODS： pCMV-luc vector, in which luciferase activity is driven by CMV promoter, was cloned by amplifying the CMV promoter fragment from the pCDNA3.1 vector and then inserting the CMV promoter region into the pGL3-basic vector using the standard protocol, pTK-Luc reporter was similarly construc- ted, with the TK promoter from the pRL-TK vector. The constructed pCMV-Luc or pTK-Luc was co-transfected with pBIND or pRL-TK respectively, together with NFAT or con- stitutively active form named NFATCA. Relative luciferase activity was calculated as instructed by the manual instruc- tion. RESULTS： Both pCMV-Luc and pTK-Luc vectors were successfully constructed. Luciferase activity assay revealed that SV40 promoter responded to active NFAT. CONCLU- SION： The common used internal control promoter SV40 could respond to active NFAT, which should be kept in mind for selection of the rational internal control vector in the dual luciferase reporter assay. In addition, our study here also provides a practical strategy for rational selection of the internal control.