The caiddll (25-hydroxyvitamin D3) 24-hydroxylase is one of the key enzymes in the metabolism of vitm D. This enzyme acts on both calcidlol and calcitriol (1,25-dhydroxyvitamin D3) Cell Transfection and Chloramphenicol Acetltranferase (CAT) Assay. NRK rat kidney cells (American Type Culture Collection) were cultured to =50%o confluency 24 hr before transfection. The cells were transfected with 2-10 pg of test plasmid by using the standard lipofectin method (GIBCO/ BRL). The DNA/lipofectin solution was left on the cells for 24 hr after which the medium was changed to DMEM (GIBCO/BRL)/10%o fetal calfserum (HyClone), and the cells were dosed with 40 nM of 1,25-(OH)%D3 or vehicle and incubated for an additional 24-36 hr at 370C. The cells were harvested by scraping them into 0.25 M Tris'HCI, pH 8, and lysed by three cycles of freezing and thawing; the CAT enzyme was assayed as described (19) by using 100 mg of lysate protein, as measured by the Bradford protein assay (20). The acetylated chloramphenicol was quantitated by using the Betascope model 603 blot analyzer (Betagen, Waltham, MA). Fig. 1 shows the sequence of the 5' upstream region of the 24-hydroxylase gene from -1749 to +76. Bases +76 to -516 coincide with the sequence published by Ohyama et al. (6). The position ofthe identified DRE is marked by asterisks and lies between nt-262 and nt-238 from the transcription start site, and sequences of possible cAMP-response elements lie between nt-368 and nt-126. The position of the DRE is closer to the transcription start site than previously identified positive DREs (8)(9)(10)(11)13).
RESULTSBecause all known DREs lie within the first 500 bases upstream of the transcription start site, the search for the DRE in the rat 24-hydroxylase gene was performed by a Abbreviations: 1,25-(OH)2D3, calcitriol (la,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3); VDR, vitamin D receptor; DRE, vitamin D response element; CAT, chloramphenicol acetyltransferase.