Initiation of Transcription
المؤلف:
Cohn, R. D., Scherer, S. W., & Hamosh, A.
المصدر:
Thompson & Thompson Genetics and Genomics in Medicine
الجزء والصفحة:
9th E, P32-33
2025-11-10
129
The β-globin promoter, like many other gene promoters, consists of a series of relatively short functional elements that interact with specific regulatory proteins (generically called transcription factors) that control transcription, including, in the case of the globin genes, those proteins that restrict expression of these genes to erythroid cells, the cells in which hemoglobin is produced. There are well over a thousand sequence-specific, DNA-binding transcription factors in the genome, some of which are ubiquitous in their expression, whereas others are cell type or tissue specific.
One important promoter sequence found in many but not all genes is the TATA box, a conserved region rich in adenines and thymines that is ~25 to 30 bp upstream of the start site of transcription (see Figs. 1 and 2). The TATA box appears to be important for determining the position of the start of transcription, which in the β-globin gene is ~50 bp upstream from the translation initiation site (see Fig. 2). Thus in this gene, there are ~50 bp of sequence at the 5′ end that are transcribed but are not translated; in other genes, the 5′ uTR can be much longer and can even be interrupted by one or more introns. A second conserved region, the so-called CAT box (actually CCAAT), is a few dozen base pairs farther upstream (see Fig. 2). Both experimentally induced and naturally occurring variants in either of these sequence elements, as well as in other regulatory sequences even farther upstream, lead to a sharp reduction in the level of transcription, thereby demonstrating the importance of these elements for normal gene expression. Many variants in these regulatory elements have been identified in individuals with the hemoglobin disorder β-thalassemia.
Fig1. (A) General structure of a typical human gene. Individual labeled features are discussed in the text. (B) Examples of three medically important human genes. Different deleterious variants in the β-globin gene, with three exons, cause a variety of important disorders of hemoglobin (Case 25). Mutations in the BRCA1 gene (24 exons) are responsible for many cases of inherited breast or breast and ovarian cancer (Case 7). Mutations in the β-myosin heavy chain (MYH7) gene (40 exons) lead to inherited hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.
Fig2. Nucleotide sequence of the complete human β-globin gene. The sequence of the 5′ to 3′ strand of the gene is shown. Tan areas with capital letters represent exonic sequences corresponding to mature mRNA. Lowercase letters indicate introns and flanking sequences. The CAT and TATA box sequences in the 5′ flanking region are indicated in brown. The GT and AG dinucleotides important for RNA splicing at the intron-exon junctions and the AATAAA signal important for addition of a polyA tail are also highlighted. The ATG initiator codon (AuG in mRNA) and the TAA stop codon (uAA in mRNA) are shown in red letters. The amino acid sequence of β-globin is shown above the coding sequence. (Original data from Lawn RM, Efstratiadis A, O'Connell C, et al: The nucleotide sequence of the human β-globin gene. Cell 21:647–651, 1980.)
Not all gene promoters contain the two specific elements just described. Importantly, genes that are constitutively expressed in most or all tissues (so-called housekeeping genes) often lack the CAT and TATA boxes, which are more typical of tissue-specific genes. Promoters of many housekeeping genes contain a high proportion of cytosines and guanines in relation to the surrounding DNA (see the promoter of the BRCA1 breast cancer gene in Fig. 1). Such CG-rich promoters are often located in regions of the genome called CpG islands, so named because of the unusually high concentration of the dinucleotide 5′-CpG-3′ (the p representing the phosphate group between adjacent bases) that stands out from the more general AT-rich genomic land scape. Some of the CG-rich sequence elements found in these promoters are thought to serve as binding sites for specific transcription factors. CpG islands are also important because they are targets for DNA methylation. Extensive DNA methylation at CpG islands is usually associated with repression of gene transcription, as we will discuss later in the context of chromatin and its role in the control of gene expression.
Transcription by RNA polymerase II (RNA pol II) is subject to regulation at multiple levels, including binding to the promoter, initiation of transcription, unwinding of the DNA double helix to expose the template strand, and elongation as RNA pol II moves along the DNA. Although some silenced genes are devoid of RNA pol II binding altogether, consistent with their inability to be transcribed in a given cell type, others have RNA pol II poised bidirectionally at the transcriptional start site, perhaps as a means of fine-tuning transcription in response to particular cellular signals.
In addition to the sequences that constitute a promoter itself are other sequence elements that can markedly alter the efficiency of transcription. The best characterized of these activating sequences are called enhancers. Enhancers are sequence elements that can act at a distance from a gene to stimulate transcription. Enhancers can be located several or even hundreds of kilobases away from a gene, and in the case of the Sonic hedgehog (SHH) gene there can be many, with some being 1 million bp away, acting in different tissues. unlike promoters, enhancers are both position and orientation independent and can be located either 5′ or 3′ of the transcription start site. Specific enhancer elements function only in certain cell types and thus appear to be involved in establishing the tissue specificity or level of expression of many genes, in concert with one or more transcription factors. In the case of the β-globin gene, several tissue-specific enhancers are present both within the gene itself and in its flanking regions. The interaction of enhancers with specific regulatory proteins leads to increased levels of transcription.
Normal expression of the β-globin gene during development also requires more distant sequences called the locus control region (LCR), located upstream of the ε-globin gene, which is required for establishing the proper chromatin context needed for appropriate high-level expression. As expected, variants that disrupt or delete either enhancer or LCR sequences interfere with or prevent β-globin gene expression.
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