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Updated: Aug 18, 2026

Methods to Discover Alternative Promoter Usage and Transcriptional Regulation of Murine Bcrp1
Published on: May 27, 2016
Illegitimate (or ectopic) transcription proceeds through the usual promoters
J Chelly1, J P Hugnot, J P Concordet
1ICGM, Unité 129 INSERM (Laboratoire de Recherches en Génétique et Pathologie Moléculaires), CHU Cochin, Paris, France.
Abstract:
Illegitimate transcription corresponds to the low level presence of specific transcripts in nonspecific cells. This phenomenon allows to analyse any tissue-specific disease transcript in any easily accessible cell. We demonstrate here that the start sites of transcription are the same in specific and non-specific cells, which indicates that illegitimate transcription is due to a low level activity of the normal promoter. In addition, it is possible to increase about 10 fold the abundance of illegitimate transcripts through the use of cycloheximide. This treatment should, therefore, facilitate detection and qualitative analysis of illegitimate transcripts.
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