E-box in the proximal region is crucial for the PDX-1 auto-loop activity. A, various lengths of Pdx-1 promoter luciferase (Luc) constructs or pGL3-Luc and pSV-β-gal were cotransfected with CMV-PDX-1 (0.25 μg) in HIT cells (n = 6), and CMV-PDX-1 (0.125 μg), CMV-SREBP-1c (0.125 μg), or both in HepG2 cells (n = 6). B, PDX-1 (−2.7 k)-Luc, E-box mutated (−2.7 k)-E-box(m)-Luc, or pGL3-Luc and pSV-β-gal were cotransfected with CMV-PDX-1 (0.25 μg) in HIT cells (n = 6) and CMV-PDX-1 (0.125 μg) in HepG2 cells (n = 6). Luciferase activity was normalized to the pSV-β-gal values. The pGL3-Luc activity was set to 1.0. Data are means ± S.E.