Genomic organization and promoter analysis of the Trichomonas vaginalis core histone gene families

Core histone gene is a well-established model to study eukaryote gene transcription regulation mechanism. However, the protozoan core histone gene regulation mechanism remains largely unknown. In this study, we observed almost all protozoan Trichomonas vaginalis core histone genes (60/74) organize as gene pairs in a head-to-head manner, thus facilitating the divergent transcription of both partners. Additionally, the majority of both T. vaginalis core histone genes pairs (50/60) and solitary genes (10/14), contain three over-represented motifs with conserved positional architecture at their promoter regions. Notably of the three motifs, Motif I is highly similar to the Inr which mediates the transcription start site selection in T. vaginalis. Motif II and Motif III preferably locate at the promoter regions of the T. vaginalis genome. Those findings reveal that both genomic organization and cis-acting transcription elements facilitate these large number of T vaginalis core histone genes under the control of the same transcription machine. (C) 2009 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.