Genomic organization and promoter characterization of the mouse and human genes encoding p62 subunit of the transcription DNA repair factor TFIIH

TFIIH, a multisubunit complex was shown to be involved in several biological fundamental mechanisms of the cell: transcription, nucleotide excision repair and cell cycle regulation. p62 is one of the six subunits that constitutes the core of TFIIH versus the holoenzyme, which contains, in addition, the ternary kinase CAK complex. To gain an insight into the regulation of the expression of the various subunits of the core, we report here the cDNA cloning and the genomic organization of the mouse p62 gene. A promoter analysis of both mouse and human genes allow us to localize two start sites and the regulatory regions, thus demonstrating a significative conservation among both species. Both promoters lack classical elements such as CCAAT and TATA boxes. Analysis of the expression of the p62 gene reveals an overexpression in testis tissue for both species. (C) 1998 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.