Dual Promoter Structure of Mouse and Human Fatty Acid Translocase/CD36 Genes and Unique Transcriptional Activation by Peroxisome Proliferator-activated Receptor and Ligands*

Fatty acid translocase (FAT)/CD36 is a glycoprotein involved in multiple membrane functions including uptake of long-chain fatty acids and oxidized low density lipoprotein. In mice, expression of the gene is regulated by peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR) in the liver and by PPAR in the adipose tissues (Motojima, K., Passilly, P. P., Peters, J. M., Gonzalez, F. J., and Latruffe, N. (1998) J. Biol. Chem. 273, 16710–16714). However, the time course of PPAR ligand-induced expression of FAT/CD36 in the liver, and also in the cultured hepatoma cells, is significantly slower than those of other PPAR target genes. To study the molecular mechanism of the slow transcriptional activation of the gene by a PPAR ligand, we first cloned the 5 ends of the mRNA and then the mouse gene promoter region from a genomic bacterial artificial chromosome library. Sequencing analyses showed that transcription of the gene starts at two initiation sites 16 kb apart and splicing occurs alternatively, producing at least three mRNA species with different 5 -noncoding regions. The PPAR ligand-responsive promoter in the liver was identified as the new upstream promoter where we found several possible binding sites for lipid metabolism-related transcriptional factors but not for PPAR. Neither promoter responded to a PPAR ligand in the in vitro or in vivo reporter assays using cultured hepatoma cells and the liver of living mice. We also have cloned the human FAT/CD36 gene from a bacterial artificial chromosome library and identified a new independent promoter that is located 13 kb upstream of the previously reported promoter. Only the upstream promoter responded to PPAR and PPAR ligands in a cell type-specific manner. The absence of PPRE in the responding upstream promoter region, the delayed activation by the ligand, and the results of the reporter assays all suggested that transcriptional activation of the FAT/CD36 gene by PPAR ligands is indirectly dependent on PPAR.