Tissue-specific expression of GFP reporter gene in germline driven by GATA-2 promoter and enhancers in zebrafish

Abstract

GATA-2, a transcription factor, is expressed in several types of blood cells and in the central nervous system (CNS), and regulates the differentiation of these cells. We have obtained five zebrafish transgenic germlines that carry and express the green fluorescent protein (GFP) gene ligated to various 5′ flanking sequences of zebrafish GATA-2 gene. The spatial pattern of GFP expression varies, mainly depending on which regulatory sequence is used, among the germlines. In some of the germlines, the expression of GFP is restricted to the CNS and the enveloping layer (EVL) cells, while in some other lines GFP is observed only in the CNS. It is noted that the intensity of GFP in the transgenic fish remain unchanged after a six-generation passage of the transgenes. The transgenic fish could find its uses in the future in generating tissue-specific, even cellspecific mutant fish and in functional study of related genes through transgenesis.