Regulation of skeletal α-actin promoter in young chickens during hypertrophy caused by stretch overload

Anterior latissimus dorsi (ALD) muscles of 3-wk-old male chickens were injected with plasmids containing various lengths of the chicken skeletal α- actin promoter (ranging from -2,090 to -77 relative to the transcription start site) driving luciferase. Hypertrophy of the left ALD muscle was induced by attaching a weight (11% of body wt) to the left wing of each chicken, with the unweighted contralateral wing serving the control. Six days of stretch overload significantly increased muscle mass 110%. Luciferase activity from the -2,090 actin-luciferase chimeric gene increased 127% compared with the contralateral control ALD muscle. Luciferase activities driven by the -424, -202, and -99 actin promoters were 179, 134, and 378% higher, respectively, in the stretched ALD muscle than in the contralateral control ALD muscle. Luciferase activity from the -77 deletion construct was not different between stretched and control muscles. These data indicate that the gene region responding to stretch is downstream of -99 and imply, but do not conclusively prove, that the region between -99 and -77, which contains serum response element 1, contributes to the stretch-induced increase in skeletal α-actin promoter activity in the ALD muscle.