The beta-interferon promoter responds to priming through multiple independent regulatory elements.

The induction of beta-interferon is markedly enhanced in some cell types by a pretreatment with type I interferon itself (priming). We show that induction in response to double-stranded RNA is completely dependent upon priming in HeLa cells. However, unprimed cells can be partially induced by Sendai virus. This indicates that Sendai virus can provide a signal that is different from, or additional to, that provided by double-stranded RNA. The requirement for priming cannot be localized to a specific sequence element in the beta-interferon promoter, suggesting that priming may induce an essential component for signal transduction in response to double-stranded RNA.