Cardiopulmonary malformations in the inv/inv mouse

The inv/inv mouse carries an insertional mutation in the inversin gene, (inv, for inversion of embryonic turning). Previously it had been reported that almost 100% of the homozygous offspring (inv/inv) were characterized by situs inversus totalis. In this report we identify the spectrum of cardiopulmonary anatomical abnormalities in inv/inv mice surviving to birth to determine whether the abnormalities seen are of the categories classically associated with human situs abnormalities. Stillborn mice, offspring that died unexpectedly (within 48 hr after birth), and neonates with phenotypic characteristics of situs inversus (right-sided stomachs, growth failure or jaundice) were processed for standard histological examination. Of 173 offspring, 34 (20%) neonates (11 stillborn, 9 unexpected deaths, and 14 mice with situs inversus phenotype) were examined, 27 of which were genotyped to be inv/inv. Interestingly, three inv/inv mice (11%) were found to have situs solitus. Twenty-four had situs inversus with normal, mirror-image cardiac anatomy (dextrocardia with atrioventricular concordance, ventriculoarterial concordance and a right aortic arch). The overall incidence of cardiovascular anomalies observed was 10 out of 27 (37%). The most frequent severe malformation, identified in 3 out of 27 animals, was a complex consisting of pulmonary infundibular stenosis/atresia with absence of pulmonary valve tissue and a ventricular septal defect. The pulmonary phenotype in inv/inv mice was situs inversus with occasional minor lobar abnormalities. We conclude that 1) cardiopulmonary malformations in inv/inv mice are not rare (37%), 2) the cardiopulmonary malformations observed in inv/inv specimens are not of the spectrum typically associated with human heterotaxia. In particular, inv/inv mice have a propensity for defects in the development of the right ventricular outflow tract and the interventricular septum, and 3) approximately one out of ten inv/inv mice is born with situs solitus and shows cardiac anomalies that correspond to those observed in inv/inv specimens with situs inversus. Our data therefore suggest that inversin, the product of the inv locus, may have specific roles in cardiac morphogenesis independent of its role in situs determination.

The avian cardiac alpha-actin promoter is regulated through a pair of complex elements composed of E boxes and serum response elements that bind both positive- and negative-acting factors

The chicken alpha-cardiac actin is one of the earliest contractile protein genes selectively expressed during embryonic skeletal and cardiac muscle differentiation. Cardiac actin promoter elements were examined in these two sarcomeric cell types. A portion of the alpha-cardiac actin promoter responsible for striated muscle specificity has been delineated (1, 2) and shown to contain four serum response elements (SRE). Previously, SRE3 was shown to be part of a complex element in conjunction with a functional E box (2), and we now show that SRE4 is also part of an upstream SRE.E box cis-element complex. The SREs function similarly, but the E boxes have dissimilar properties within and between striated muscle types. The SRE3.E1 box binds myogenic basic helix-loop-helix factors and is required for cardiac actin trans-activation in primary muscle cell cultures but functions as a negative regulatory element in cardiac muscle cells. The SRE4.E2 box, on the other hand, fails to bind basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) factors, is negative acting in skeletal muscle cells, and is positive acting in cardiac myocytes. A DNA binding factor similar to HF1a (3) was identified that interacts specifically with the SRE4.E2 box. This study shows that the avian cardiac actin promoter elements are differentially used between skeletal and cardiac striated muscle cell lineages.

Elements of the smooth muscle alpha-actin promoter required in cis for transcriptional activation in smooth muscle. Evidence for cell type-specific regulation

To assess the role of cis-acting elements within the smooth muscle alpha-actin gene in smooth muscle cells (SMC), we transfected chicken smooth muscle alpha-actin promoter-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene fusion plasmids into SMC derived from rat and chicken aortas. In marked contrast to effects in chicken skeletal myoblasts and fibroblasts, p122CAT (positions -122 to +19), containing two conserved CArG elements, elicited a modest increase in chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter activity in chicken SMC. Addition of upstream sequences between -122 and -151 (p151CAT) increased activity in adult chicken SMC. Addition of sequence between positions -151 and -257 (p257CAT) resulted in a 7-fold increase in chloramphenicol acetyltransferase activity over that of p151CAT in rat SMC, but not in chicken SMC. A genomic clone encoding the rat smooth muscle alpha-actin gene was isolated, and the 5'-flanking region was partially characterized. Comparison of primary sequence between rat and chicken promoters showed a conserved E box motif at position -214 in the chicken gene and at position -213 in the rat gene. Results of these studies demonstrate that regions upstream of the conserved CArG elements exert potent regulatory effects on transcription and that SMC require different cis-acting elements than other cell types to transcriptionally regulate this gene.