O. Jbilo et al., PROMOTER AND TRANSCRIPTION START SITE OF HUMAN AND RABBIT BUTYRYLCHOLINESTERASE GENES, The Journal of biological chemistry, 269(33), 1994, pp. 20829-20837
Two kilobase segments of the 5'-untranslated regions of the human and
rabbit butyrylcholinesterase (BCHE) genes were characterized. The sequ
ences shared extensive identity except for a 333-base pair (bp) Alu re
peat present only in human BCHE. One single transcription start site w
as found in both genes with the techniques of primer extension, amplif
ication of the 5'-end of mRNA, and RNase protection. Cap sites in huma
n and rabbit BCHE genes were found in strictly homologous positions. I
n human BCHE, the transcription start site was found 157 bp upstream o
f Met(-28), the translation start site. Potential regulatory elements
in both promoters included one AP1 site and multiple sites for topoiso
merase, Oct-1 and PEA-3. Transient expression of BCHE-reporter gene co
nstructs showed that a 194-bp fragment of the 5'-flanking region of hu
man BCHE and a 570-bp fragment of rabbit BCHE were sufficient for prom
oting chloramphenicol acetyltransferase activity in HeLa cells. No con
sensus TATA and CAAT boxes were found. However, the sequence around th
e transcription start site exhibited homology with initiator elements
found in other TATA-less promoters in developmentally regulated genes.