Instructions: Given a passage with a context and an answer, construct a question on the basis of the information present in the passage. Construct the question in such a way that (i) it is unambiguous, (ii) it is answerable from the passage, (iii) its answer is unique (iv) it answer uses text phrases from the passage. Avoid creating questions that (i) can't be answered correctly without actually understanding the passage and (ii) uses the same words or phrases given in the passage.
Input: Context: Monkey 20-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (20-HSD) is a catabolic enzyme responsible for converting progesterone into biologically inactive 20-hydroxyprogesterone, thereby playing a key role in the estrous cycle or pregnancy and allowing ovulation and parturition to occur in most mammalian animals. Monkey 20-HSD was highly abundant in ovarian and placental tissues during the pre-ovulation and pre-parturition phase and was primarily localized in the syncytiotrophoblast of the placenta. In this study, we focused on the molecular characterization of the monkey 20-HSD promoter region by conducting reporter assays in Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) K1 cells.', "A reporter assay using constructs of various lengths of the 5'-flanking region (-890-Luc, -513-Luc, -306-Luc, -273-Luc, and -70-Luc) revealed that a region corresponding to the activator protein 1 (Ap-1) located between -281 and -274 bp was essential for the transcriptional activity. Absence of the Ap-1 site in -273-Luc dramatically decreased the transcription levels to the control levels. When the reporter constructs were co-transfected with Ap-1 (Jun) and specificity protein (Sp-1) genes, the transcription activities of the constructs increased with the exception of -273 and -70, while that of the double construct was reduced compared to that of Ap-1 alone. Furthermore, mutational analysis demonstrated that a putative Ap-1 site played an important role in the expression of the reporter gene. These findings were confirmed by EMSA examining the interactions of the protein Ap-1 in a nuclear extract from CHO-K1 cells and the expression levels of the Ap-1 transcription factor in pre-parturition placenta and CHO-K1 cells. Although mut-1 and mut-2 of Ap-1 bound with nuclear extracts from CHO-K1 cells, the transcriptional activity of mut-3 was almost completely suppressed.
Answer: Our results indicate that the Ap-1 site (-281 -274) (5'-TGTCTCAT-3') plays a crucial role in the activation of the monkey 20-HSD gene. Thus, we demonstrated that monkey 20-HSD promoter activity is regulated by the transcription factor Ap-1 in CHO-K1 cells.
Output:
Does the transcription factor Ap-1 regulate monkey 20-hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase promoter activity in CHO cells?