Distinctive four promoters collectively direct expression of brain-derived neurotrophic factor gene.

In order to get a deeper insight into comprehensive understanding of gene regulation of brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), we characterized the transcriptional apparatus of this gene on the basis of the genomic structure. The results in this study revealed that there are at least four distinctive promoters in the BDNF gene; two of them are neuron-specific and the rest are active in some non-neuronal tissues as well as neuronal ones. Although the analyses of the promoter usage pattern clarified many characteristic features in controlling these promoter activities, the most notable finding was that administration of kainic acid resulted in great activation of two out of the four promoters in hippocampal neurons in a regionally different manner and thus indicated the presence of two distinct signal transduction pathways for kainate-induced activation of BDNF gene expression in neurons. The analysis of BDNF gene expression in terms of the promoter usage pattern would provide a new and important insight into understanding a molecular control mechanism of this gene expression.