Human p53 oncogene contains one promoter upstream of exon 1 and a second, stronger promoter within intron 1.

To gain insight into how transcription of the human p53 oncogene is controlled, we characterized the regulatory regions of the gene. A 3.8-kilobase-pair (kbp) EcoRI restriction fragment encompassing the 5' end of the human p53 gene, as well as subfragments generated by restriction digests, was cloned upstream of the Escherichia coli chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene and CAT activity was assayed in extracts of transfected cells. Two types of CAT vectors were used: Epstein-Barr virus oriP-derived constructs that were stably introduced into the human cell lines K562, Raji, and HL-60, and pSV0-CAT-derived constructs that were transiently introduced into the monkey cell line COS. By this approach we have identified two promoters for the human p53 gene. One promoter, p53P1, is located 100-250 bp upstream of the 218-bp noncoding first exon; a second, stronger promoter, p53P2, maps within the first intron. CAT activity and expression of CAT RNA indicate that p53P2 functions up to 50-fold more efficiently than p53P1. We conclude that the expression of the human p53 gene may be controlled by two promoters and that differential regulation of these promoters may play an important role in the altered expression of the gene in both normal and transformed cells.