Transgenic reporter mice with promoter region of murine LRAT specifically marks lens and meiosis spermatocytes.

Abstract

Lecithin:retinol acyltransferase (LRAT) is the major enzyme responsible for retinol esterification in the mammalian body. LRAT exhibits specific activity in the cells with active retinol metabolism where it converts retinols into retinyl esters, which represents the major storage form of retinol. Besides hepatic stellate cells in the liver, LRAT appears to have a key physiologic role in several other tissues. In this study, we generated a transgenic reporter mouse expressing green fluorescence protein (EGFP) under the control of region containing -1166 bps from promoter upstream from the putative transcriptional start site and 262 bps downstream of this start. Transgenic reporter mice exhibited specific expression in eyes and testes. In eyes, expression of EGFP-reporter is found in lens and lens epithelium and fibers from embryo to adulthood. In testes, LRAT-EGFP reporter is expressed both in Sertoli and in spermatocytes marking initiation of spermatogenesis in prepubertal mice. Our data show that the examined LRAT regulatory region is sufficient to achieve strong and selective expression in the eye and testes but not in liver and other organs.