Transcriptional activation by tetracyclines in mammalian cells
Gossen, M.; Freundlieb, S.; Bender, G.; Müller, G.; Hillen, W.; Bujard, H.
Science 268(5218): 1766-1769
1995
ISSN/ISBN: 0036-8075 PMID: 7792603 DOI: 10.1126/science.7792603
Accession: 009661412
A transcriptional transactivator was developed that fuses the VP16 activation domain with a mutant Tet repressor from Escherichia coli. This transactivator requires certain tetracycline (To) derivatives for specific DNA binding. Thus, addition of doxycycline to HeLa cells that constitutively synthesized the transactivator and that contained an appropriate, stably integrated reporter unit rapidly induced gene expression more than a thousandfold. The specificity of the Tet repressor-operator-effector interaction and the pharmacological characteristics of Tc's make this regulatory system well suited for the control of gene activities in vivo, such as in transgenic animals and possibly in gene therapy.