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. 1991 Dec;65(12):6686–6692. doi: 10.1128/jvi.65.12.6686-6692.1991

Characterization of the hepatitis B virus EnhI enhancer and X promoter complex.

W T Guo 1, K D Bell 1, J H Ou 1
PMCID: PMC250743  PMID: 1658368

Abstract

The hepatitis B virus EnhI enhancer element overlaps the promoter of the X gene. By performing methylation interference experiments, four protein factor binding sites clustered in a 120-bp region were found to control the EnhI enhancer and X promoter activities. Deletion mapping experiments indicated that the two upstream protein factor binding sites constituted a basal enhancer module. This module, likely bound by a liver-specific factor and a ubiquitous factor, could activate the herpes simplex virus thymidine kinase gene promoter by 5- or 10-fold, depending on the orientation, in Huh7 cells, a liver-derived cell line, but not in other cell types tested. The two downstream protein factor binding sites interact with the upstream basal enhancer module in an orientation- and distance-dependent manner to increase the enhancer activity by another 10-fold. In addition, at least one of the two downstream protein factor binding sites is also essential for the X promoter activity.

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Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

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