Gene Characterization
The H19 gene contains 3 Sp1 binding sites, however these 3 sites are present in a part of the sequence that has shown no transcriptional activity in deletion assays. As a result, these Sp1 binding sites are not expected to contribute much to the regulation of H19 gene transcription. The H19 gene sequence also contains binding sites for the C/EBP family of transcription factors. One of these C/EBP transcription factor binding sites also contains a CpG site. In vitro methylation of this CpG site on a DNA construct strongly inhibited transcription of the H19 gene.
In cell lines derived from human choriocarcinomas, Kopf et al. found that transcription of H19 was under the simultaneous control of both a 5’ upstream and a 3’ downstream region. Kopf et al. have suggested that this simultaneous and bidirectional regulation of H19 may involve a member of the AP2 transcription factor family.
H19 gene transcription has also been shown to be activated by the presence of the E2F1 transcription factor.
Read more about this topic: H19 (gene)