Heat Shock-Induced Interactions of Heat Shock Transcription Factor and the Human hsp70 Promoter Examined by In Vivo Footprinting

Genomic footprinting of the human hsp70 promoter reveals that heat shock induces a rapid binding of a factor, presumably heat shock transcription factor, to a region encompassing five contiguous NGAAN sequences, three perfect and two imperfect matches to the consensus sequence. Arrays of inverted NGAAN sequences have been defined as the heat shock element. No protein is bound to the heat shock element prior to or after recovery from heat shock. Heat shock does not perturb the binding of factors to other regulatory elements in the promoter which contribute to basal expression of the hsp70 gene.