Sequence and regulation of the porcine FSHR gene promoter

Follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) plays a crucial role in animal reproduction and exerts its physiological functions by interacting with the FSH receptor (FSHR). The FSHR is exclusively expressed in granulose cells in the ovary and its expression level is closely related to granulose cell differentiation and follicle maturation. In mammal, most of the follicles undergo atresia, while follicle atresia is mainly caused by granulosa cell apoptosis. However, knowledge on the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms of the porcine FSHR gene in granulosa cell is still limited. In this study, approximately 2.1 kb of the proximal promoter sequence of the porcine FSHR gene were obtained by genome walking, and the regulatory elements and transcription factors in the porcine FSHR promoter sequence were predicted. Furthermore, the core promoter region (−1195/−598) of the porcine FSHR gene was identified using a luciferase assay. Subsequently, the relationship between expression levels of the porcine FSHR gene and histone H3K9 acetylation levels around the core promoter region (−787/−572) in vivo and invitro were analyzed. Our results showed that an increased FSHR gene expression level was accompanied with an increase in histone H3K9 acetylation levels, suggesting that histone H3K9 acetylation could regulate the expression of the porcine FSHR gene.