Functional analysis of the promoter of the mitochondrial phosphate carrier human gene: identification of activator and repressor elements and their transcription factors.

The phosphate carrier (PiC) catalyses the import of phosphate into mitochondria where it is needed for ATP synthesis. We have analysed the 5-flanking region of the human PiC gene and found that it has a single transcriptional initiation site and lacks a TATA box. These findings may provide insight into control of PiC gene expression in different cell types and under different growth conditions. To our knowledge, this is the first study to analyse the regulation of the PiC gene expression in any cell.