M human islets produced a faint band of the 173 bp PCR product amplified by primers set no.1 (lane 6) while primer set no. 2 amplified a strong band of the 200 bp PCR product (lane 7), suggesting that the distal ASP-015K site promoter of the human PC gene primarily controls its transcription in human pancreatic islets similarly to rat islets.Cloning and Characterization of hP2 PromoterTo identify the critical cis-acting elements that control PC transcription in pancreatic islets, we isolated approximately the 1 kb upstream sequence of exon UE1/2 of the human PC gene which would potentially serve as the distal promoter (hP2) of the PC gene using PCR with the primers designed from the human genome database [21]. A comparison of the nucleotide sequences of the hP2 promoter with the distal promoter of rat PC gene revealed that they are 59.6 similar, with the highest similarity observed within the first 500 nucleotides. The hP2 promoter lacks a canonical TATA box in the first 100 nucleotides but contains two copies of CCAAT boxes and one copy of a GC box located at nucleotide positions 2101/297, 271/267 and 254/239, respectively. These features are the characteristic of housekeeping genes [22]. Further analysis of the hP2 promoter sequence using the PROMO database [23] identified several putative transcription factor binding sites including USF1/USF2, Sp1 and HNF3b/ FoxA2. These putative binding sites are also conserved in the rat PC gene (Figure 2). To determine the transcriptional activity of the distal promoter of the human PC gene, a series of 59-truncated hP2 promoter constructs were generated and used in transient (-)-Indolactam V transfection experiments. In this study, eight constructs of the hP2 promoter were transiently transfected into INS-1 832/13 cells. As shown in Fig. 3, deletions of regions 21108 to 2985, 2640, and 2489 did not significantly affect promoter activity. However, when the deletions were made from the region 2498 to 2365, this resulted in a significant increase of promoter activity, suggesting the presence of a repressor element between these regions. On the other hand, deletions from the region 2365 to 2240 resulted in a significant decrease in promoter activity, suggesting the presence of (a) positive regulatory element(s) in this region. Further deletion from 2240 to 2114 did not affect promoter activity. However, deletion to 240 resulted in a dramatic decrease of 15857111 promoter activity, suggesting the presence of a second positive regulatory element between 2114 and 240.Distal Promoter of the Human Pyruvate CarboxylaseFigure 2. The human PC P2 promoter sequence and its alignment with the rat PC P2 promoter. Boxes represent the putative transcription factor binding sites for Sp1, FoxA2/HNF3b, USF1/2, and CBF. Identical nucleotides between human and rat sequence are symbolized by an asterisk. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0055139.gDistal Promoter of the Human Pyruvate CarboxylaseFigure 1317923 3. Localization of cis-acting elements of the human PC P2 promoter. Transient transfections of 8 constructs containing of the 59truncated hP2 promoter into INS-1 832/13 cells were performed to identify the regulatory regions of the hP2 promoter. The basal activity of each 59truncated hP2 promoter was calculated from the values of luciferase activity which was normalized with the values of b-galactosidase activity to control for transfection efficiency. The normalized luciferase activity of each P2 construct was compared with the activity of the pGL3-basic vector which w.M human islets produced a faint band of the 173 bp PCR product amplified by primers set no.1 (lane 6) while primer set no. 2 amplified a strong band of the 200 bp PCR product (lane 7), suggesting that the distal promoter of the human PC gene primarily controls its transcription in human pancreatic islets similarly to rat islets.Cloning and Characterization of hP2 PromoterTo identify the critical cis-acting elements that control PC transcription in pancreatic islets, we isolated approximately the 1 kb upstream sequence of exon UE1/2 of the human PC gene which would potentially serve as the distal promoter (hP2) of the PC gene using PCR with the primers designed from the human genome database [21]. A comparison of the nucleotide sequences of the hP2 promoter with the distal promoter of rat PC gene revealed that they are 59.6 similar, with the highest similarity observed within the first 500 nucleotides. The hP2 promoter lacks a canonical TATA box in the first 100 nucleotides but contains two copies of CCAAT boxes and one copy of a GC box located at nucleotide positions 2101/297, 271/267 and 254/239, respectively. These features are the characteristic of housekeeping genes [22]. Further analysis of the hP2 promoter sequence using the PROMO database [23] identified several putative transcription factor binding sites including USF1/USF2, Sp1 and HNF3b/ FoxA2. These putative binding sites are also conserved in the rat PC gene (Figure 2). To determine the transcriptional activity of the distal promoter of the human PC gene, a series of 59-truncated hP2 promoter constructs were generated and used in transient transfection experiments. In this study, eight constructs of the hP2 promoter were transiently transfected into INS-1 832/13 cells. As shown in Fig. 3, deletions of regions 21108 to 2985, 2640, and 2489 did not significantly affect promoter activity. However, when the deletions were made from the region 2498 to 2365, this resulted in a significant increase of promoter activity, suggesting the presence of a repressor element between these regions. On the other hand, deletions from the region 2365 to 2240 resulted in a significant decrease in promoter activity, suggesting the presence of (a) positive regulatory element(s) in this region. Further deletion from 2240 to 2114 did not affect promoter activity. However, deletion to 240 resulted in a dramatic decrease of 15857111 promoter activity, suggesting the presence of a second positive regulatory element between 2114 and 240.Distal Promoter of the Human Pyruvate CarboxylaseFigure 2. The human PC P2 promoter sequence and its alignment with the rat PC P2 promoter. Boxes represent the putative transcription factor binding sites for Sp1, FoxA2/HNF3b, USF1/2, and CBF. Identical nucleotides between human and rat sequence are symbolized by an asterisk. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0055139.gDistal Promoter of the Human Pyruvate CarboxylaseFigure 1317923 3. Localization of cis-acting elements of the human PC P2 promoter. Transient transfections of 8 constructs containing of the 59truncated hP2 promoter into INS-1 832/13 cells were performed to identify the regulatory regions of the hP2 promoter. The basal activity of each 59truncated hP2 promoter was calculated from the values of luciferase activity which was normalized with the values of b-galactosidase activity to control for transfection efficiency. The normalized luciferase activity of each P2 construct was compared with the activity of the pGL3-basic vector which w.
