finding promoter sequence in TATA box less 5 prime region

[sudheer.svss]

Dear friends,
I am trying to find the promoter and transcription factor binding sites in a my gene in rat. By the sequence analysis of the gene in ensembl i found that the TATA box sequence is absent in the 5 prime region (600 bases) of the gene before the first exon.
can u please give me suggestions how to find the promoter in such instances.,

[ajthomas]

It's possible that there is no TATA box, or that there is another exon further upstream somewhere and what you think is the promoter is actually an intron. For a quick, but not conclusive, analysis of it, go look at your gene in the ECR browser to compare your gene in the rat to other species. Experimentally, you can do 5'-RACE to find the transcription initiation site to determine for sure where the promoter is.