THE MINIMAL SELF-SUFFICIENT ELEMENT IN A MURINE G-RICH PROMOTER IS A LARGE ELEMENT WITH IMPERFECT DYAD SYMMETRY(C)

The murine adenosine deaminase gene has a structurally archetypal TATA A-box-deficient G + C-rich promoter. The three Spl binding sites of th e promoter are neither necessary nor sufficient for promoter function. Minimal basal promoter activity resides within a 48-bp element downst ream of the Spl binding sites. This element shows an imperfect dyad sy mmetry around the promoter's major transcriptional initiation site and contains at least two nuclear protein binding sites. The distinctive sequence characteristics and nuclear protein binding locations of this element led us to propose a model for how such promoters may function .