A pan-specific promoter activity of the 213bp segment of the pseudorabies virus early protein 0 gene in transgenic mice.

Pseudorabies virus (PrV) early protein 0 (EP0) is a transactivator that plays important roles in the viral gene expression. To examine a promoter regulatory element for the EP0 gene expression in vivo, we have generated two transgenic mouse lines expressing the EP0 gene under the control of a 213bp 5'-flanking sequence of the EP0 gene. To analyze the tissue specificity of transgene expression, mRNA of the EP0 gene was monitored in various tissues from the transgenic mice by the reverse transcriptase (RT)-polymerase chain reaction (PCR) analysis. The EP0 gene expression was demonstrated in all tissues tested by the RT-PCR analysis. These tissues included skin, muscles (skeletal and heart), lung, liver, spleen, small intestine, kidney, brain and testis. These results indicated that the 213bp sequence of the 5'-flanking region of the EP0 gene is capable of driving expression of the EP0 gene in vivo and the promoter is pan-specific.