pHIVTATA-CAT, a versatile vector to study transcriptional regulatory elements in mammalian cells

We have constructed a vector, pHIVTATA-CAT, that contains the Escherichia coli cat gene, encoding chloramphenicol acetyltransferase, under the control of a minimal promoter consisting of the HIV TATA box and the adenovirus major late promoter initiator element. Putative transcriptional elements can be inserted either directly upstream from the TATA box or downstream from the reporter gene in an enhancer position. Transcription can be monitored enzymatically or by RNase protection mapping. An analysis of mRNAs generated from pHIVTATA-CAT constructs revealed that transcription starts at the transcription start point and no read-through transcripts are generated.