The enhancer of the human transferrin gene is organized in two structural and functional domains.

We previously identified a 300-base pair long enhancer, located 3.6 kilobases upstream of the cap site of the human transferrin gene. A 5' deletion up to position 86 of the enhancer resulted in complete loss of the enhancer activity. Here we show by competition footprint analysis, gel retardation assays, and transient expression studies in hepatoma and HeLa cells that the enhancer is composed of two distinct structural and functional domains, A (nucleotides 1-86) and B (nucleotides 87-291). Each domain is a proto-enhancer of a different type. Domain A is a proto-enhancer that, when multimerized, is able by itself to stimulate transcription from the heterologous SV40 promoter, both in Hep3B and HeLa cells. It contains the octanucleotide TGTTTGCT sequence and is the binding site of two liver-specific nuclear factors and of a different HeLa nuclear factor. Domain B contains four binding sites interacting with several liver nuclear proteins. In order to bind, any of these proteins requires the presence of all the others. This domain is able to block the activity of a downstream negative element, but it has no enhancer activity by itself. In the presence of the transferrin promoter, full enhancer activity requires the association of the two domains A and B.