Distal regulation of the interferon gamma locus

Abstract

In metazoans, developmentally regulated genes depend upon cis-regulatory elements for cell-type specific and heritable transcription. By employing a BAC transgenic system, I demonstrate the function of the noncoding region of the human interferon-gamma (IFNG) locus. Deletion of individual IFNG regulatory elements results in cell-type specific loss of gene expression, stimulus-specific gene up regulation, or loss of expression in suboptimal conditions. These results demonstrate that appropriate cell and stimulus specific expression of IFNG is achieved through the interactions of multiple unique distal regulatory elements.