Regulation of taurine transporter gene (TauT) by WT1.

In the present study we have demonstrated that WT1 (Wilms tumor suppressor gene) enhances the expression of TauT (taurine transporter gene) in human embryonic kidney 293 cells in a dose-dependent manner. TauT promoter activity was increased five-fold by cotransfection of a full-length TauT promoter-reporter construct with WT1. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs) using nuclear extracts from WT1-overexpressing 293 cells showed a putative WT1-binding site in the basal promoter region of TauT, which bound to WT1 in EMSAs. Mutation of this WT1 consensus sequence abolished binding of WT1. These results demonstrate that TauT may represent a downstream target gene of WT1 during renal development. Copyright 2003 Federation of European Biochemical Societies