The regulation of beta-interferon gene expression.

Expression of the beta-interferon gene is induced in many cell lines by viral infection or treatment with double-stranded RNA. The sequence requirements for this induction have been analysed in detail. A minimal inducible element has a modular structure which is consistent with a model in which induction requires de-repression of a dominant negative regulatory domain and the activation of at least two positive regulatory domains. A number of cellular factors that can bind to the beta-IFN promoter have been identified, and some of these are only detectable after induction, including the transcription factor NF-kappa B. cDNA clones have recently been isolated which may encode regulatory factors for beta-IFN expression.