Regulatory element analysis and structural characterization of the human sarcomeric mitochondrial creatine kinase gene.

Creatine kinase (EC 2.7.3.2) (CK) isoenzymes are crucial to energy metabolism, particularly in tissues with high energy requirements. Nuclear genes encode four known CK subunits: cytoplasmic muscle, cytoplasmic brain, ubiquitous mitochondrial (uMtCK), and sarcomeric mitochondrial (sMtCK). Herein, we report the isolation and complete structural characterization of the human sMtCK gene. It contains 11 exons and encompasses more than 37 kilobase pairs (kb). The sites of exon localization in the sMtCK-coding region and their precise sizes are identical with the human uMtCK gene. The translation start codon is in the third exon and lies 17 kb from the transcription start site. The human sMtCK gene is located on chromosome 5. Sequence analysis of the sMtCK genomic upstream sequences reveals a typical TATAA box within the 80 base pairs (bp) that, by transfection experiments, are sufficient to promote expression of chimeric plasmids with the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter. Cis-acting sequences in a fragment containing 3360 bp of upstream sequence, the first exon, and 750 bp of the first intron are sufficient to mediate tissue-specific expression. However, these sequences only partially regulate induction of sMtCK expression in differentiating mouse myoblasts. MEF1/MYOD and MEF2 sequence motifs present in the sMtCK gene are not sufficient to regulate differentiation-specific expression. The sMtCK gene contains sequences homologous to several motifs that are shared among some nuclear genes encoding mitochondrial proteins and that may be essential for the coordinated activation of these genes during mitochondrial biogenesis.