Molecular Mechanisms of Chamber-specific Myocardial Gene Expression: Transgenic Analysis of the ANF Promoter

The mature vertebrate heart is a complex organ containing numerous different tissue types. Within the myocardiallayer alone, the atrial and ventricular chambers and the specialized myocardium of the conduction system show distinct morphological, contractile, connective, and electricalproperties. The molecular genetic pathways leading to thedevelopment of these different types of myocardial cellsare largely unknown, although recent promoter studies intransgenic animals have begun to reveal the first details ofthe DNA sequences necessary for correct chamber- or region-specific gene expression. Much less is known aboutthe transcription factors that bind to the DNA sequence tomediate region-specific expression in the heart...