Characterization of the 5' flanking region of the human D1A dopamine receptor gene.

To study how the expression of the D1A dopamine receptor gene is regulated, a human genomic clone was isolated by using a rat cDNA as probe. A 2.3-kilobase genomic fragment spanning -2571 through -236 relative to the adenosine of the first methionine codon was sequenced. The gene has an intron of 116 base pairs in the 5' noncoding region, nucleotides -599 through -484 as determined by S1 mapping and reverse transcription-PCR. It has multiple transcription initiation sites located between -1061 and -1040. The promoter region lacks a TATA box and a CAAT box, is rich in G+C content, and has multiple putative binding sites for transcription factor Sp1. Thus, the promoter region of the human D1A gene has features of "housekeeping" genes. However, it also has consensus sequences for AP1 and AP2 binding sites and a putative cAMP response element. The ability of four deletion mutants of the 2.3-kilobase fragment to modulate transcription of the heterologous chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene in the promoterless plasmid pCAT-Basic was determined. All mutants demonstrated substantial transcriptional activity in the murine neuroblastoma cell line NS20Y, which expresses the D1A gene endogenously. Transient expression assays suggested the presence of a positive modulator between nucleotides -1340 and -1102, and a negative modulator between -1730 and -1341. The four genomic fragments had no or very low transcriptional activity in NB41A3, C6, and Hep G2 cells, which are not known to express this gene. Thus, the human D1A gene belongs to the category of tissue-specific, regulated genes that have housekeeping-type promoters.