Molecular cloning and analysis of the 5′-flanking region of the rat PP1 α gene

Abstract We have cloned an 8 kbp genomic fragment of 5′-flanking region of the gene encoding the catalytic subunit of rat protein phosphatase 1α. Neither CAAT box nor TATA box was detected but a 300 bp high GC region containing nine Sp1 transcription factor binding sites is present immediately upstream of the translation start site, demonstrating that PP1α is a housekeeping gene. Luciferase reporter assay showed that transcription of PP1α is controlled at the high GC region.