Characterization of the Distal Promoter of the Human Pyruvate Carboxylase Gene in Pancreatic Beta Cells

Pyruvate carboxylase (PC) is an enzyme that plays a crucial role in many biosynthetic pathways in various tissues including glucose-stimulated insulin secretion. In the present study, we identify promoter usage of the human PC gene in pancreatic beta cells. The data show that in the human, two alternative promoters, proximal and distal, are responsible for the production of multiple mRNA isoforms as in the rat and mouse. RT-PCR analysis performed with cDNA prepared from human liver and islets showed that the distal promoter, but not the proximal promoter, of the human PC gene is active in pancreatic beta cells. A 1108 bp fragment of the human PC distal promoter was cloned and analyzed. It contains no TATA box but possesses two CCAAT boxes, and other putative transcription factor binding sites, similar to those of the distal promoter of rat PC gene. To localize the positive regulatory region in the human PC distal promoter, 5′-truncated and the 25-bp and 15-bp internal deletion mutants of the human PC distal promoter were generated and used in transient transfections in INS-1 832/13 insulinoma and HEK293T (kidney) cell lines. The results indicated that positions −340 to −315 of the human PC distal promoter serve as (an) activator element(s) for cell-specific transcription factor, while the CCAAT box at −71/−67, a binding site for nuclear factor Y (NF-Y), as well as a GC box at −54/−39 of the human PC distal promoter act as activator sequences for basal transcription.