ORIGINAL RESEARCH Molecular cloning and analysis of the Catsper1 gene promoter

abstract: CatSper channels are essential for hyperactivity of sperm flagellum, progesterone-mediated chemotaxis and oocyte fertiliza-tion. Catsper genes are exclusively expressed in the testis during spermatogenesis, but the function and regulation of the corresponding pro-moter regions are unknown. Here, we report the cloning and characterization of the promoter regions in the human and murine Catsper1 genes. These promoter regions were identified and isolated from genomic DNA, and transcriptional activities were tested in vitro after trans-fection into human embryonic kidney 293, mouse Sertoli cells 1 and GC-1spg cell lines as well as by injecting plasmids directly into mouse testes. Although the human and murine Catsper1 promoters lacked a TATA box, a well-conserved CRE site was identified. Both sequences may be considered as TATAless promoters because their transcriptional activity was not affected after deletion of TATA box-like sites. Several transcription initiation sites were revealed by RNA ligase-mediated rapid amplification of the cDNA 5′-ends. We also found that the immediate upstream region and the first exon in the human CATSPER1 gene negatively regulate transcriptional activity. In the murine Catsper1 promoter, binding sites for transcription factors SRY, SOX9 and CREB were protected by the presence of nuclear testis protein