Abstract: The aim of this study was to determine the activity region of Oct4 (octamer-binding transcription factor 4) promoterin Xuhuai goat, and to investigate the effect of TSA (trichostatin A) and VPA(valproicacid) on Oct4 promoter activity. Specific PCR primers of Oct4 promoter including different lengths of fragments were designed by Primer 5.0, then were amplified and cloned into PGL3-Bacic luciferase reporter vector. All the reconstruction vectors were transfected into gEF, P19 and COS7 cells, respectively. After TSA and VPA treatment, the activity of dual-luciferase reporter gene in these three transfected cells was detected. In addition, the CMV promoter of pEGFP-N1 was replaced by the -1516—+30 bp fragment of Oct4 promoter, GFP fluorescence was used to detect the activity of Oct4 promoter. The results indicated that different fragments of Oct4 promoter showed different degrees of activity in gEF, P19 and COS7 cells, and the maximal activity region of Oct4 promoter was -1516—+30 bp, the basal activity region was -238—+30 bp. Positive regulatory domains existed in the region of -1516—-946 bp and -615—-96 bp, while negative regulatory domains existed in the region of -1936—-1516 bp and -946—-615 bp. The optimum induction concentration to enhance the activity of Oct4 promoter was 1 μmol/L of TSA and 4 mmol/L of VPA. The GFP expression can be started by the fragment of -1516—+30 bp. This study provides an experimental basis for revealing the mechanism of expression and regulation of Oct4 in goat.

Key words: Oct4, promoter activity, TSA, VPA, inducing