Multimerized DBH enhancer domains
The invention features an enhancer cassette having the formula [X-Y] n , wherein each X is independently a noradrenergic cell-specific enhancer derived from a DBH gene; Y is absent or is a mono or polynucleotide that has between one and thirty nucleotides; and n is an integer between three and twenty, inclusive.
1. An enhancer cassette having the formula [X-Y] n , wherein each X is, independently, SEQ ID NO: 40 or SEQ ID NO: 41; each Y is, independently, absent or a mono- or polynucleotide that contains between one and thirty nucleotides; and n is an integer between two and fifty, inclusive.
2. The enhancer cassette of claim 1 , wherein each X is SEQ ID NO: 41.
3. The enhancer cassette of claim 1 , wherein Y is absent or is a mono- or polynucleotide that contains between one and six nucleotides, inclusive.
4. The enhancer cassette of claim 1 , further comprising an RNA polymerase binding site and a transcription initiation site.
5. The cassette of claim 1 , wherein n is greater than four.
6. The cassette of claim 5 , wherein n is greater than eight.
7. The cassette of claim 6 , wherein n is greater than nine.
8. An expression vector comprising an enhancer cassette having the formula [X-Y] n , wherein each X is independently SEQ ID NO: 40 or SEQ ID NO: 41; each Y is, independently, absent or a mono or polynucleotide that has between one and thirty nucleotides; and n is an integer between one and fifty, inclusive.
9. A method of expressing a nucleic acid molecule in a noradrenergic cell, comprising expressing in said noradrenergic cell an expression vector comprising an enhancer cassette having the formula [X-Y] n operably linked to said nucleic acid molecule, wherein each X is independently SEQ ID NO: 40 or SEQ ID NO: 41; each Y is, independently, absent or a mono or polynucleotide that has between one and thirty nucleotides; and n is an integer between three and fifty, inclusive.