molecular biology Molecular biology is a branch of biology that seeks to understand the molecule, molecular basis of biological activity in and between Cell (biology), cells, including biomolecule, biomolecular synthesis, modification, mechanisms, and interactio ...

, a downstream promoter element (DPE) is a core promoter element. Like all core promoters, the DPE plays an important role in the initiation of gene transcription by

RNA polymerase II RNA polymerase II (RNAP II and Pol II) is a Protein complex, multiprotein complex that Transcription (biology), transcribes DNA into precursors of messenger RNA (mRNA) and most small nuclear RNA (snRNA) and microRNA. It is one of the three RNA pol ...

. The DPE was first described by T. W. Burke and James T. Kadonaga in ''

Drosophila melanogaster ''Drosophila melanogaster'' is a species of fly (an insect of the Order (biology), order Diptera) in the family Drosophilidae. The species is often referred to as the fruit fly or lesser fruit fly, or less commonly the "vinegar fly", "pomace fly" ...

'' at the

University of California, San Diego The University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego in communications material, formerly and colloquially UCSD) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in San Diego, California, United States. Es ...

in 1996. It is also present in other species including humans, but not ''

Saccharomyces cerevisiae ''Saccharomyces cerevisiae'' () (brewer's yeast or baker's yeast) is a species of yeast (single-celled fungal microorganisms). The species has been instrumental in winemaking, baking, and brewing since ancient times. It is believed to have be ...

''. Together with the initiator motif (Inr), another core promoter element, the DPE is recognized by the transcription factor II D (TFIID) subunits TAF6 and TAF9. It has been shown that DPE-dependent basal transcription depends highly on the Inr (and vice versa) and on correct spacing between the two elements. The DPE

consensus sequence In molecular biology and bioinformatics, the consensus sequence (or canonical sequence) is the calculated sequence of most frequent residues, either nucleotide or amino acid, found at each position in a sequence alignment. It represents the result ...

was originally thought to be RGWCGTG, however more recent studies have suggested it to be the similar but more general sequence RGWYV(T). It is located about 28–33

nucleotide Nucleotides are Organic compound, organic molecules composed of a nitrogenous base, a pentose sugar and a phosphate. They serve as monomeric units of the nucleic acid polymers – deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) and ribonucleic acid (RNA), both o ...

s downstream of the transcription start site.

Occurrence

It has been shown that the DPE is about as widely used as the TATA box in ''D. melanogaster''. While a DPE was found in many promoters that do not contain a TATA box, there are also promoters that contain both a TATA box and a DPE. The promoters of nearly all

Hox gene Hox genes, a subset of homeobox, homeobox genes, are a gene cluster, group of related genes that Evolutionary developmental biology, specify regions of the body plan of an embryo along the craniocaudal axis, head-tail axis of animals. Hox protein ...

s of ''D. melanogaster'', with the exception of the evolutionarily most recent genes, ''

Ubx UBX may refer to: * Ulaanbaatar Securities Exchange, a stock exchange in Mongolia * Ultrabithorax, a homeobox gene found in insects {{Disambig ...

'' and
Abd-A
', contain a DPE motif and lack a TATA box. ''Drosophila'' promoters containing the DPE sequence include

', '' Antp P2'', '' bride of sevenless'',
brown
',

',

',

', '' engrailed'',
Gsα
',

',

',

',

',

', and

'. In organisms other than ''D. melanogaster'', the promoter of the human and mouse '' IRF1'' gene has been found to contain a DPE consensus sequence at the appropriate distance from the transcription start site. This promoter, too, does not contain a TATA box. DPE has also been reported to play role in primitive Eukaryote '' Entamoeba histolytica''.

Notes

References

{{Transcription DNA Regulatory sequences