Differential Regulation of the Caprine ${\beta}$-Lactoglobulin Gene Promoter in the Cultured Mammary HC11 Cells

The ${\beta}$-Lactoglobulin (BLG) gene expression is differentially regulated during development of the mammary tissues. Such differential regulation of the BLG gene expression can be reiterated in the cultured mammary HC11 cells. In the growing non-confluent HC11 cells, the BLG promoter activity was shown to be partially repressed by the upstream regulatory sequence. The repression was gradually diminished and switched to activation as the cells grew confluent. The differential regulation of the BLG promoter was controlled by the 5'-regulatory sequence located at the upstream of 205 bp. Electromobility shift assay showed that nuclear extract from HC11 cells differentially bound on the regulatory sequence, depending on the cell confluency, which was in accordance with the differential transcriptional activity. DNase I foot-print assay, however, revealed that all nuclear extracts presented the same foot-prints, regardless of confluency of HC11 cells. These results suggest that differential regulation BLG gene expression by the 5'-regulatory sequence may be accomplished by competitive and/or cooperative binding of differential regulatory factors on the same regulatory element.