RT Journal
A1 Plessy, Charles
A1 Pascarella, Giovanni
A1 Bertin, Nicolas
A1 Akalin, Altuna
A1 Carrieri, Claudia
A1 Vassalli, Anne
A1 Lazarevic, Dejan
A1 Severin, Jessica
A1 Vlachouli, Christina
A1 Simone, Roberto
A1 Faulkner, Geoffrey J.
A1 Kawai, Jun
A1 Daub, Carsten O.
A1 Zucchelli, Silvia
A1 Hayashizaki, Yoshihide
A1 Mombaerts, Peter
A1 Lenhard, Boris
A1 Gustincich, Stefano
A1 Carninci, Piero
T1 Promoter architecture of mouse olfactory receptor genes
JF Genome Research 
JO Genome Research 
YR 2012 
FD March 01 
VO 22 
IS 3 
SP 486 
OP 497 
DO 10.1101/gr.126201.111 
UL http://genome.cshlp.org/content/22/3/486.abstract 
AB Odorous chemicals are detected by the mouse main olfactory epithelium (MOE) by about 1100 types of olfactory receptors (OR) expressed by olfactory sensory neurons (OSNs). Each mature OSN is thought to express only one allele of a single OR gene. Major impediments to understand the transcriptional control of OR gene expression are the lack of a proper characterization of OR transcription start sites (TSSs) and promoters, and of regulatory transcripts at OR loci. We have applied the nanoCAGE technology to profile the transcriptome and the active promoters in the MOE. nanoCAGE analysis revealed the map and architecture of promoters for 87.5% of the mouse OR genes, as well as the expression of many novel noncoding RNAs including antisense transcripts. We identified candidate transcription factors for OR gene expression and among them confirmed by chromatin immunoprecipitation the binding of TBP, EBF1 (OLF1), and MEF2A to OR promoters. Finally, we showed that a short genomic fragment flanking the major TSS of the OR gene Olfr160 (M72) can drive OSN-specific expression in transgenic mice.