Our previous studies revealed that a proximal region of the N-methyl-D-aspartate receptor 1 (NMDAR1) promoter is important for cell-type-specific expression. We have now explored the contributions of several regulatory elements to this specificity. Deletion of the neuron-restrictive silencer element partially relieved the suppression of promoter activity in C6 glioma and HeLa cells. An overlapp...

Conditional expression of suicide genes in vivo has a wide range of applications in biological research and requires a minimal basal promoter activity in the uninduced state. To reduce basal activity of tetracycline (tc)-inducible target promoters we combined synthetic tet operators in varying numbers with a core promoter derived from the plant viral 35S promoter. An optimized promoter, P(TF), ...

Animal growth and development depend on the precise control of gene expression at the level of transcription. A central role in the regulation of developmental transcription is attributed to transcription factors that bind DNA enhancer elements, which are often located far from gene transcription start sites. Here, we review recent studies that have uncovered significant regulatory functions in...

OBJECTIVES It has been reported that the mutation of the pre-core (PC) and basal-core promoter (BCP) may play an important role in the development of HBV-related hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). In this study the PC and BCP mutations were investigated in chronic HBV patients. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this study, 120 chronic HBV patients from Golestan, Northeast of Iran who were not vaccinated ...

In chronic hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection, variants with mutations in the basal core promoter (BCP) and precore region predominate and associate with more severe disease forms. Studies on their effect on viral replication remain controversial. Increasing evidence shows that epigenetic modifications of cccDNA regulate HBV replication and disease outcome. Here we determined the transcription a...

BACKGROUND Mutations in basal core promoter (BCP) and precore regions of hepatitis B virus (HBV) are associated with course and treatment outcomes of chronic HBV infection. While BCP and precore mutation analysis have been carried out in adult patients between different genotypes, this analysis has rarely been performed for chronically infected children. OBJECTIVES The aim of this study was t...

Bacterial promoters are recognized by RNA polymerase (RNAP) σ subunit, which specifically interacts with the -10 and -35 promoter elements. Here, we provide evidence that the β' zipper, an evolutionarily conserved loop of the largest subunit of RNAP core, interacts with promoter spacer, a DNA segment that separates the -10 and -35 promoter elements, and facilitates the formation of stable close...

The gene encoding protein zero (P0), the most abundant protein of peripheral nervous system myelin, is expressed uniquely in Schwann cells. Previous studies have demonstrated that much of the cell type specificity of this expression is due to transcriptional control elements in the 1.1-kilobase pair 5'-regulatory region of the gene. We have now analyzed this region and have identified a set of ...

p300, a ubiquitous transcription coactivator, plays an important role in gene activation. Our previous work demonstrated that human inducible nitric oxide synthase (hiNOS) expression can be highly induced with the cytokine mixture (CM) of TNF-α + IL-1β + IFN-γ. In this study, we investigated the functional role of p300 in the regulation of hiNOS gene expression. Our initial data showed that ove...