OXBOX and REBOX, overlapping promoter elements of the mitochondrial F0F1-ATP synthase beta subunit gene. OXBOX/REBOX in the ATPsyn beta promoter.

Abstract Three positive (PR1-3) and one negative (NR1) transcriptional control domain have been tentatively mapped in the promoter of the human F0F1-ATP synthase beta subunit gene (ATPsyn beta) in the context of expression in myogenic cells. Lipofection of promoter-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase fusion constructs into C2C12 myogenic cells revealed that two of the three positive domains (PR1 and PR2) function in both myoblasts and myotubes, whereas the third positive domain (PR3) and the sole negative domain (NR1) seem to function only in myotubes. PR1 contains a cluster of four CCAAT cis-elements, PR2 is a small 44-base pair region containing an SP1-like motif, and PR3 is a region previously shown to be recognized by both OXBOX- and REBOX-binding factors. By site-directed polymerase chain reaction linker mutations, the activity of the OXBOX/REBOX cis-element in myoblasts is shown to be masked by flanking sequences in PR3. The negative domain, NR1, is located between 300 and 1,000 base pairs upstream from the OXBOX/REBOX elements in a region containing multiple Alu repeats. Mobility gel shift analysis of DNA-protein complexes using competitor DNAs verified the involvement of both OXBOX- and REBOX-binding factors in PR3. Similar experiments show SP1-specific binding at PR2. These data with observations of OXBOX and REBOX-specific binding of an OXBOX/REBOX-like region within the conserved sequence block C of the human mitochondrial DNA D-loop sequence are consistent with the idea that OXBOX- and REBOX DNA-binding factors coordinate the expression of mitochondrial energy genes in highly oxidative tissues by working with well characterized general transcription factors such as SP1 and CCAAT DNA-binding proteins, which exist in the nucleus, and MTF, which exists in the mitochondrion.