Sadot, E., Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100 Rehovot, Israel
Heicklen-Klein, A., Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100 Rehovot, Israel
Barg, J., Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100 Rehovot, Israel, Therapeutic Community Ramot Yehuda, Zoharim, Israel
Lazarovici, P., Department of Pharmacology, School of Pharmacy, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91120 Jerusalem, Israel
Ginzburg, I., Department of Neurobiology, Weizmann Institute of Science, 76100 Rehovot, Israel

Tau, a microtubule-associated protein, is encoded by a single gene, the expression of which is neuron-specific and developmentally regulated. When PC12 cells are exposed to nerve growth factor (NGF), they differentiate to sympathetic-like neurons. This differentiation process is accompanied by an elevation of tau proteins and mRNA. Here, we describe, for the first time, the isolation and characterization of a tau promoter region. We show that the promoter of tau is G + C-rich, lacks a genuine TATA box and thus promotes multiple initiation sites of RNA transcription. Our results demonstrate that a region of approximately 335 base-pairs residing immediately upstream of tau exon -1 are able to direct positive control of neuron-specific activity of the luciferase reporter gene. The isolation of tau promoter will facilitate further studies of the regulation of tau expression during development and aging of neuronal cells.