The Proximal Promoter of the Human Transglutaminase 3 Gene

The study investigated the regulation of the transglutaminase 3 gene (TGM3), which is important for the late stages of epidermal differentiation and hair follicle cell function. Researchers analyzed 3.0 kilobase pairs upstream of the TGM3 transcription start site and identified the proximal promoter region between −126 and −91. This region was found to confer epithelial-specific expression in epidermal keratinocytes. The study revealed that the interaction between Sp1- and ets-like recognition motifs is crucial for TGM3 promoter function. The findings suggested that these sequences could be useful for gene therapy in keratinocytes due to their strong promoter/enhancer activity.