Constitutive andanaerobically induced DNase-I-hypersensitive sites inthe5'region ofthemaizeAdhlgene (chromatin/promoter/regulation/plant)

ABSTRACT DNase-I-hypersensitive sites havebeenchar-acterized in aplant gene, maizeAdhM (which encodes alcoholdehydrogenase 1). It has been generally recognized in animal genes that the chromatin of the 5' flanking region can be characterized by the accessibility of its DNAto the nuclease DNaseI (EC3.1.21.1), indicatingwhichareasinthepromoter are "open" tonuclearfactors. The 5' region ofthemaizeAdhl genecontainstwodistinctDNase-I-hypersensitive regions,oneconstitutivelypresentfromposition -160to -700and one thatis anaerobically induced from position -35 to -150. Theconstitutive region contains three major hypersensitive sites, one of which corresponds in part to a region of potential Z-DNA.Theinduced hypersensitiveregion includesTATAAat -38 and CAAT at -100as well as other potential regulatorysequences.Thereare structural features ofchromatinthatplay a role inthe regulation ofgene expression. Nuclear DNA in highereukaryotes is associated withproteinstoformnucleosomes,which comprise the basic chromatin fiber. Changes in thecharacterofnucleosomalorganization