A NEGATIVE REGULATORY ELEMENT UPSTREAM FROM THE MOUSE ADH-1 GENE CAN DOWN-REGULATE A HETEROLOGOUS PROMOTER

Regulation of Adh-1 (encoding mouse alcohol dehydrogenase-A,) gene exp ression results from the interplay of positive and negative effects. W e report here the detection and localization of a negative regulatory element (NRE) to the sequence between - 754 and - 732 bp relative to t he transcription start point (tsp). This element, which we call Adh-1 NRE2, can down-regulate transcription from a strong heterologous promo ter (the SV40 promoter+enhancer). Adh-1 NRE2 can function in both orie ntations and either upstream or downstream from the promoter, and thus has attributes characteristic of a 'silencer'. A protein that binds t o the Adh-1 NRE is widespread in mouse tissues.