Rabbit whey acidic protein gene upstream region controls high-level expression of bovine growth hormone in the mammary gland of transgenic mice.

Transgenic mice were produced which secreted high levels of bGH into milk. The 6.3-kb upstream region of the rabbit whey acidic protein (rWAP) gene was linked to the structural part of the bovine growth hormone (bGH) gene, and the chimeric gene was radioimmunoassay into mouse oocytes. bGH was detected by radioimmunoassay in the milk of all resulting transgenic mice. bGH concentrations in milk varied from line to line, from 1.0-16 mg/ml. This expression was not correlated to the number of transgene copies. In all lines studied, the mammary gland was the major organ expressing bGH mRNA during lactation. bGH mRNA concentrations were barely detectable in the mammary gland of cyclic females; they increased during pregnancy. These results show that the upstream region of the rWAP gene harbors powerful regulatory elements which target high levels of bGH transgene expression to the mammary gland of lactating transgenic mice.