title: The 5'-upstream region of human programmed cell death 5 gene contains a highly active TATA-less promoter that is up-regulated by etoposide.
abstract: The PDCD5 (programmed cell death 5), a novel apoptosis related gene, is functionally associated with cell apoptosis, exhibits a ubiquitous expression pattern and is up-regulated in some types of tumor cells undergoing apoptosis. To study the transcriptional regulation of the PDCD5 gene, we have cloned 1.1 kb of its 5'-upstream region. The DNA sequencing analysis revealed a major transcriptional start site at 72 base pairs in front of the ATG translational start codon. The upstream of the transcriptional start site lacks a canonical TATA box and CAAT box. Transient transfection and luciferase assay demonstrate that this region presents extremely strong promoter activity. The 5'-deleted sequences fused to a luciferase reporter gene demonstrated that the -555/-383 region from the transcription start site is crucial for transcriptional regulation, and the luciferase reporter gene's expression significantly increased in the early stage of cell apoptosis induced by etoposide. These results imply that the PDCD5 gene may be a target gene under the control of some important apoptosis-related transcriptional factors during the cell apoptosis.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Medical Immunology, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Peking University Center for Human Disease Genomics, 38 Xueyuan Road, Beijing 100083, China. xumingxu@bjmu.edu.cn
authors.forename: Mingxu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Ning
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.forename: Liming
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Gui
authors.forename: Mouyi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Lai
authors.forename: Ying
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Donglan
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Xia
authors.forename: Min
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rui
authors.forename: Yingmei
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Dalong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Ma
mesh_terms: D024506:5' Flanking Region / Q000235:genetics*; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics; D005047:Etoposide / Q000494:pharmacology*; D005091:Exons; D005796:Genes / Q000235:genetics; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D007438:Introns; D008156:Luciferases / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D016385:TATA Box / Q000235:genetics; D024363:Transcription Initiation Site; D014162:Transfection; D015854:Up-Regulation / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D051017:Apoptosis Regulatory Proteins; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; C117283:PDCD5 protein, human; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D005047:Etoposide; D004247:DNA; D008156:Luciferases