Hexokinase gene, promoter

Hexokinase is an enzyme that is mentioned at an early point in most biochemistry courses, since this enzyme is required for the first step in the body s utilization of glucose. The promoter for the hexokinase gene is shown here. This promoter consists of about 160 base pairs, and contains a TATA box (AATAA underlined), a CCAAT box [also underlined), and a short sequence of DNA that is regulated by a hormone. The hormone-regulated sequence is CCACGTCA (underlined). This short sequence of DNA is one of many types of "response elements" that occur in the genome. Specifically, CCACGTCA is called the cyclic AMP response element, for reasons that are explained later. This response element occurs in the hexokinase promoter, just a few nucleotides beyond the CCAAT box (Osawa rf a., 1996) ... 

M. M. Katabi, H. L. Chan, S. E. Karp, and G. Batist, Hexokinase type II a novel tumor-specific promoter for gene-targeted therapy differentially expressed and regulated in human cancer cells, Hum. Gene Ther. 70 155 (1999). 

Osawa, H., Robey, R., Printz, R., and Granner, D. (1996). Identification and characterization of basal and cyclic AMP response elements in the promoter of the rat hexokinase II gene. /. Biol. Chem. 271,17296-17303. 

Murakami K, Kanno H, Miwa S, PiomeUi S. Human HKr isozyme organization of the hexokinase I gene, the erythroid-specific promoter, and transcription initiation site. Mol Genet Metab 1999 67 118-30. 

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