STRUCTURE AND MAPPING OF THE FOSB GENE - FOSB DOWN-REGULATES THE ACTIVITY OF THE FOSB PROMOTER

We have determined the genomic structure of the fosB gene and shown that it consists of 4 exons and 3 introns at positions also found in the c-fos gene. By deletion analysis we have characterized a region upstream of the TATA box which is the promoter region of the gene. Several consensus sequences have been identified, including an SRE and AP-1 binding site whose relative positions are identical to those in the 5' upstream region of the c-fos gene. We have also shown that FosB and c-Fos can downregulate the activity of the fosB promoter to a similar extent. The fosB gene is located in the [A1-B1] region of mouse chromosome 7.