Developmentally and regionally regulated alterations of octamer- and GC-box-binding activities during the postnatal development of mouse cerebellum

Abstract

Gel-mobility analyses using a DNA probe containing the SV40 enhancer-promoter revealed that the DNA-binding activities of cerebellar extracts changed drastically during the postnatal development of mouse brain. Three major DNA-protein complexes formed on the 72-bp enhancer (complexes E-I, E-II and E-III) were detected in the extracts prepared from the 2- and 10-day-old mouse cerebellum, but two of them (complexes E-II and E-III) were not detected in 3- and 7-week-old mice. In contrast, the formation of the complexes E-II and E-III, but not E-I, was observed in the cerebral cortex extracts throughout postnatal development until at least 7 weeks after birth. The addition of the octamer motif as a competitor abolished the formation of these three complexes. On the other hand, the formation of DNA-protein complexes on the 21-bp promoter by the cerebellar extracts increased after birth, while this increase in the formation of the complexes was not detected in the cerebral cortex extracts. This complex formation was found to be dependent upon the GC-box and to be stimulated by the addition of Zn 2+, indicating that the protein binding to the 21-bp promoter may contain intramolecular zinc fingers. Thus, the expression of the octamer- and the GC-box-binding proteins are developmentally and regionally controlled in the cerebellum during the postnatal development of the mouse brain.