Functional characterization of transcriptional regulatory elements in the upstream region and intron 1 of the human S6 ribosomal protein gene.

Expression of housekeeping genes involves regulation at comparable levels in a wide spectrum of cells. To define the cis-regulatory elements in the human S6 ribosomal protein (rpS6) gene, we made a series of deletions of the upstream non-transcribed region, including or excluding exon 1 or intron 1 sequences. The mutated rpS6 gene regulatory regions were fused to the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter gene and transfected into HeLa and COS-1 cells. The results have identified three parts of the rpS6 gene that are required for efficient and specific transcription. The core promoter includes only a 40 bp region upstream of the transcription start site and initiation region. Both upstream and intronic elements enhance transcription from the core promoter. Furthermore, mutation of the splice donor site of intron 1 almost completely abolished the enhancing activity of the intronic transcriptional modulator. We used gel retardation assays to identify sequence-specific binding sites in the upstream region and in the proximal half of intron 1. Both common and different nuclear factors that bind the rpS6 gene promoter were identified in extracts from HeLa and COS-1 cells, suggesting that different transcription factors may bind specifically to the same binding region and might be interchangeable in their function to ensure high-level expression of housekeeping genes independently of the cell type.