Structure and regulation of the gene encoding the neuron-specific protein PEP-19

PEP-19 is a 61 amino acid polypeptide that is localized to neurons. PEP-19 is translated from a 0.6 kb poly(A)+ RNA; however, the gene from which it is transcribed spans more than 30 kbp and comprises three exons and two large introns. Exon 1 contains the 5'-untranslated region of PEP-19 and the first three amino acids of the coding sequence; exon 2 codes for the next 17 amino acids while the majority of the PEP-19 mRNA, comprising the remaining 42 amino acids and the 3'-untranslated region, is in exon 3. Gel retardation analysis identifies a region of DNA in the putative promoter of PEP-19 that binds preferentially to nuclear extracts from cerebellum. However, constructs containing 1.35 kbp of 5'-upstream genomic DNA of PEP-19 fused to lacZ do not express in transgenic mice, suggesting that intragenic DNA may be essential for the regulation of PEP-19.