A developmental and tissue-specific enhancer in the mouse skeletal muscle acetylcholine receptor alpha-subunit gene regulated by myogenic factors

The expression of the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor (AChR) in vertebrate striated muscle is regulated both during development and in response to nerve-evoked muscle activity. To define DNA sequences necessary for the transcriptional regulation of the mouse alpha-subunit AChR gene, we have isolated and analyzed the alpha-gene 5'-flanking region. Primer extension and RNase protection analysis showed that transcription initiates at 2 major and 12 minor sites close to the translational initiation site. Using a series of plasmids in which segments of the 5'-flanking region were linked to the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene, we have defined an 86-base pair enhancer sequence that is active in C2 myotubes but not in C2 myoblasts or NIH3T3 fibroblasts. This enhancer contains three putative binding sites for myoD1, and the 5'-upstream regions linked to CAT were transactivated by the muscle regulatory factors, myoD1, and myogenin. Transactivation by MRF4 differed with the specific alpha-subunit construct tested. Whereas the alpha-subunit CAT constructs containing both the homologous as well as the heterologous myosin light chain 1 promoter were transactivated by myoD1 and myogenin, only the constructs containing their homologous promoter were transactivated by MRF4. Thus, an 86-base pair sequence of the alpha-subunit gene contains the information necessary for developmental specificity and responsiveness to myogenic factors.