“…The adenovirus type 2 (Ad2) early Ella (EllaE) transcription unit (TU), which encodes a 72 000 dalton DNA-binding protein, provides an intriguing alternative to the classical view of promoter structure-function relationships. Its transcription by RNA polymerase B, early in viral infection, proceeds both from major start sites (EIHaEl), which are not preceded by a consensus TATA sequence, and minor starts (EIIaE2) -26 nucleotides upstream from the major cap site, which are preceded by a TATA-like element (Mathis et al, 1981;Elkaim et al, 1983;Hashimoto and Green, 1984). An understanding ofthe role of the peculiar structure of this promoter in the differential transcription of EHIaEl and EIIaE2 may have general applications, since an increasing number of genes, both viral [adenovirus IVa2 gene (Baker and Ziff, 1981); SV40 late promoter (Brady et al, 1982); hepatitis B surface antigen gene (Cattaneo et al, 1983)] and cellular [HMG-CoA reductase (Reynolds et al, 1984); hypoxanthine phosphoribosyltransferase (Melton et al, 1984)], have been found to lack discernable TATA box elements.…”