Cloning and characterization of promoters of vascular specific genes in Zebrafish

Gene promoters located at the 5′ end of genes are instrumental in regulating the gene expression in a ubiquitous or tissue specific manner. The objective of the study was to identify, clone and characterize promoters involved in gene expression in specific tissues such as the blood and blood vessel of Zebrafish. Three genes, known to express in the blood and blood vessel lineage in Zebrafish, were selected viz. Pak2a, Rac1 and Cdc42. Approximately 800 bp of putative promoter region of Pak2a and 826 bp putative promoter region of cdc42 were cloned into plasmid vectors. This putative promoter did not show any expression in Zebrafish embryos. However, approximately 716 bp of putative promoter region of Rac1 showed Red Fluorescent Protein expression. While study Cmlc2 was used as a positive control.