Promoters, regions of DNA located upstream of genes, are the first line of control of gene expression.
Cloning wild type promoter constructs upstream of reporter genes allow researchers to use them as
reporters for in vitro and in vivo studies of transcriptional regulation and gene expression. Synthetic promoters
are also designed in order to gain control of spatial (tissue-specific expression) and/or temporal (chemically
or environmentally inducible) expression of a gene of interest. Elaboration of genetically controlled systems
also leads to more complex tightly dynamic networks of synthetic promoters. In the present review,
we highlight the potential applications of reporter, inducible and synthetic promoters as tools to study gene
transcription and elaborate in vitro and in vivo biological systems with an outstanding impact on gene transfer
and gene therapy. In the future, engineered promoters will provide the basis for highly sophisticated genetic
manipulations in biological processing, biopharmaceutical applications, gene therapy and tissue engineering
applications for in vivo models.
Keywords: synthetic promoter, promoter reporter genes, transcriptional activity, GFP, luciferase, GUS, NAN, mRFP, inducible
promoters, gene manipulation, TetON/OFF system, human tissue-specific promoters, promoter library, oscillator.
