The promoter of Alzheimer's disease amyloid A4 precursor gene.

The promoter of the gene for the human precursor of Alzheimer's disease A4 amyloid protein (PAD gene) resembles promoters of housekeeping genes. It lacks a typical TATA box and shows a high GC content of 72% in a DNA region that confers promoter activity to a reporter gene in an in vivo assay. Transcription initiates at multiple sites. Sequences homologous to the consensus binding sites of transcription factor AP-1 and the heat shock control element binding protein were found upstream of the RNA start sites. Six copies of a 9-bp-long GC-rich element are located between positions -200 and -100. A protein--DNA interaction could be mapped to this element. The 3.8 kb of the 5' region of the PAD gene include two Alu-type repetitive sequences. These findings suggest that four mechanisms may participate in the regulation of the PAD gene and could be of relevance for the progression of amyloid deposition in Alzheimer's disease.