The human per1 gene: genomic organization and promoter analysis of the first human orthologue of the Drosophila period gene.

Per genes encode components of the circadian clocks controlling metabolic and behavioural rhythms. The human Per1 cDNA, RIGUI, was previously isolated and mapped on chromosome 17p12 (Sun, Z.S., Albrecht, U., Zhuchenko, O., Bailey, J., Eichele, G., Lee, C.C., 1997. RIGUI, a putative mammalian orthologue of the Drosophila period gene. Cell 90, 1003-1011). We have now isolated the entire genomic locus containing the human Per1 gene, in a search for genes associated with CpG-rich sequences. The hPer1 gene spans 15kb of human genomic DNA and is composed of 23 exons, flanked by 5' and 3' regulatory regions. Comparison of the hPer1 genomic clone with the dbEST database revealed homologies with putative alternative transcripts. Functional mapping within the 5' CpG-rich regulatory region enabled us to locate the hPer1 promoter core in a 510bp-long sequence centred around a TATA box, which supports high levels of hPer1 transcription. A second regulatory region was formally identified in intron 1, which appears to exert a negative role in transcriptional control of hPer1. These regions may be differentially involved in tissue-specificity, and/or circadian regulation, of the human hPer1 gene transcription.