Isolation and sequence analysis of the chicken GABAa receptor ?1-subunit gene promoter

Abstract

A genomic clone containing the 5'-flanking sequence of the chicken {GABAA} receptor ?1-subunit-encoding gene (GabR?1) was isolated and characterized. An intron was found to interrupt the 5'-untranslated region. The transcription start point (tsp) was determined by primer extension, {RNase} protection and the amplification of chick brain first-strand cDNA. {DNA} sequence analysis revealed a number of putative transcriptional regulatory motifs, including a {TATA} box 30 nucleotides upstream from the tsp, and that this region is a CpG island. While there is conservation between the chicken and human GabR?1 sequences, the chicken GabR?1 promoter has a different structure to those reported for the {GABAA} receptor ?3- and ?-subunit-encoding genes