Cloning and characterization of the presenilin-2 gene promoter.
Mutations in the presenilin-2 (PS-2) have been shown to cause early onset Alzheimer's disease (AD) in a series of families known as the Volga Germans and in an unrelated Italian kindred. Expression of the PS-2 gene is regulated during AD, aging, development and brain injury. Although expressed primarily in neurons, enhanced levels of PS-2 have been reported in astrocytes activated by neuronal damage. Understanding the regulation of the PS-2 gene may thus provide an insight into its role in AD. We have isolated a 3635 bp DNA fragment that contains 2934 bp of DNA sequence upstream from the PS-2 gene. Primer extension analysis was used to map three major transcriptional start sites within the PS-2 gene. The promoter sequence, upstream of each transcriptional start site, does not contain TATA or CAAT boxes but does contain several GC rich sites (Sp-1 and AP-2). A reporter gene construct containing the PS-2 promoter (PS2P, -2934 to +702) transfected into M17 cells drives basal transcription to 20% of the levels of the SV-40 viral promoter. Addition of NGF to PC-12 cells was found to upregulate the PS2P promoter and an NGF-responsive element was localized by deletional analysis between -403 and +13 within the promoter. Since the PS-2 gene has multiple start sites and the upstream sequence is GC rich with no TATA box, the PS-2 promoter is consistent with the GC class of 'housekeeping' genes.
Pennypacker
K R
KR
Department of Pharmacology and Therapeutics, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33612, USA.
Fuldner
R
R
Xu
R
R
Hernandez
H
H
Dawbarn
D
D
Mehta
N
N
Perez-Tur
J
J
Baker
M
M
Hutton
M
M
D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D006801:Humans; D008565:Membrane Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000235:genetics; D053766:Presenilin-2; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D051381:Rats; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D018808:Transcription Factor AP-1 / Q000235:genetics; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D015854:Up-Regulation / Q000235:genetics
D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D008565:Membrane Proteins; D016328:NF-kappa B; C508861:PSEN2 protein, human; D053766:Presenilin-2; D018808:Transcription Factor AP-1