Regulation of the cell type-specific dentin sialophosphoprotein gene expression in mouse odontoblasts by a novel transcription repressor and an activator CCAAT-binding factor

Shuo Chen, Aaron Unterbrink, Sheela Kadapakkam, Juan Dong, Ting Ting Gu, Julie Dickson, Hui Hsiu Chuang, Mary MacDougall

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

22 Scopus citations

Abstract

Dentin sialophosphoprotein (DSPP) is an extracellular matrix protein that is cleaved into dentin sialoprotein (DSP) and dentin phosphoprotein (DPP) with a highly restricted expression pattern in tooth and bone. Mutations of the DSPP gene are associated with dentin genetic diseases. Regulation of tissue-specific DSPP expression has not been described. To define the molecular basis of this cell-specific expression, we characterized the promoter responsible for the cell-specific expression of the DSPP gene in odontoblasts. Within this region, DNase I footprinting and electrophoretic mobility shift assays delineated one element that contains an inverted CCAAT-binding factor site and a protein-DNA binding site using nuclear extracts from odontoblasts. A series of competitive electrophoretic mobility shift assay analyses showed that the protein-DNA binding core sequence, ACCCCCA, is a novel site sufficient for protein binding. These two protein-DNA binding sequences are conserved at the same proximal position in the mouse, rat, and human DSPP gene promoters and are ubiquitously present in the promoters of other tooth/bone genes. Mutations of the CCAAT-binding factor binding site resulted in a 5-fold decrease in promoter activity, whereas abolishment of the novel protein-DNA binding site increased promoter activity by about 4.6-fold. In contrast to DSPP, expression levels of the novel protein were significantly reduced during odontoblastic differentiation and dentin mineralization. The novel protein was shown to have a molecular mass of 72 kDa. This study shows that expression of the cell type-specific DSPP gene is mediated by the combination of inhibitory and activating mechanisms.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)42182-42191
Number of pages10
JournalJournal of Biological Chemistry
Volume279
Issue number40
DOIs
StatePublished - Oct 1 2004

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Molecular Biology
  • Biochemistry
  • Cell Biology

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