CHARACTERIZATION OF THE PROMOTER OF THE MOUSE PROHORMONE CONVERTASE PC2 GENE

Prohormone convertase 2 (PC2) is a member of a family of mammalian sub tilisin-like endoproteases that are involved in the processing of proh ormones, neuropeptides and many other precursor derived proteins. The expression of PC2 is restricted to neuroendocrine tissues such as panc reatic islets, the pituitary and the brain. To understand the regulati on of the PC2 gene, we cloned and characterized the promoter region of the mouse PC2 gene. The transcriptional start site of the mouse PC2 g ene is identical to that of the human. There is 79% identity in the se quences of the promoter regions between the mouse and human PC2 genes. The mouse PC2 gene, like the human, does not have a TATA-like motif i n the region just upstream of the start of the transcription. Studies with promoter-reporter gene, chrolamphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT), constructs showed that the region from - 400 to - 170 bp was necessary for high level expression of the mouse PC2 gene in the beta TC-3 insu linoma cells.