A DNA control sequenceTGGGGCGGAATGGC, or the “GC” box, has been described in the promoter regions upstream of a number of eukaryotic genes transcribed by polymerase II (for review, see Dynan, W. S. and Tjian, R., Nature316:774, 1985). The “GC” box can occur in single or multiple copies and is the binding site for a protein factor, Spl, which activates initiation of transcription. We have observed in the rainbow trout protamine gene 3′ to the TATA box, three “GC” boxes spaced at 80 bp intervals. The first is 5′ to the cap site and possesses the ability to “silence” transcription from the protamine promoter in constructs linking this promoter to the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyl transferase (CAT) coding sequence following transfection to COS-1 cells. A model is proposed to account for the silencing of the protamine gene in all tissues except developing sperm cells.
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Rapid Communication|
December 01 1987
The GC box as a silencer
Jacek M. Jankowski;
Jacek M. Jankowski
1Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive N. W., Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada
1Department of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada
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Gordon H. Dixon
Gordon H. Dixon
1Department of Medical Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, The University of Calgary, 3330 Hospital Drive N. W., Calgary, Alberta T2N 4N1, Canada
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
November 23 1987
Online ISSN: 1573-4935
Print ISSN: 0144-8463
© 1987 Plenum Publishing Corporation
1987
Biosci Rep (1987) 7 (12): 955–963.
Article history
Received:
November 23 1987
Citation
Jacek M. Jankowski, Gordon H. Dixon; The GC box as a silencer. Biosci Rep 1 December 1987; 7 (12): 955–963. doi: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01122129
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