Popular Promoters

VectorBuilder offers many popular vector components that users can choose from when designing their vectors. The tables below provide detailed information on these popular components, which are listed separately by category.
Mammalian Ubiquitous Promoters
Name Description Application Notes References Sequence
CMV Human cytomegalovirus immediate early enhancer/promoter Strong promoter; may have variable strength in some cell types. Cell. 41:521 (1985); PLoS One. 5:e10611 (2010) View
CMV+intron Human cytomegalovirus immediate early enhancer/promoter fused with the splicing signal from the human beta-globin intron 2 Strong promoter; may have variable strength in some cell types; presence of the beta-globin intron facilitates the nuclear export of mRNA by splicing and is predicted to enhance gene expression in eukaryotes. EMBO J. 13: 3065 (1994); Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 105: 3386 (2008) View
EF1A Human eukaryotic translation elongation factor 1 α1 promoter Strong promoter. Nucl Acids Res. 18:5322 (1990); PLoS One. 5:e10611 (2010) View
EFS Human eukaryotic translation elongation factor 1 α1 short form Medium-strength promoter. Nat Methods.11:783 (2014) View
CAG CMV early enhancer fused to modified chicken β-actin promoter Strong promoter. Gene. 108:193 (1991); PLoS One. 5:e10611 (2010) View
CBh CMV early enhancer fused to modified chicken β-actin promoter Strong promoter. Hum Gene Ther. 22:1143 (2011) View
CBA CMV early enhancer fused to chicken β-actin promoter and SV40 intron Strong promoter. Mol Biotechnol. 58:30 (2016) View
SFFV Spleen focus-forming virus promoter Strong promoter; drives high levels of gene expression, particularly in cell types of the myeloid lineage. J Virol. 69:7541 (1995); Hum Gene Ther.13:803 (2002) View
MSCV Murine embryonic stem cell virus promoter including the enhancer and promoter region of PCMV virus and 5' untranslated region of dl-587rev retrovirus Medium-strength promoter; drives gene expression in most murine or human ES cell lines and other mammalian cell lines. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 87:9202(1990); Gene Ther. 1:136 (1994) View
SV40 Simian virus 40 enhancer/early promoter Medium-strength promoter. Nature. 290:304 (1981); PLoS One. 5:e10611 (2010) View
mPGK Mouse phosphoglycerate kinase 1 promoter Medium-strength promoter. Gene. 60:65 (1987); PLoS One. 5:e10611 (2010) View
hPGK Human phosphoglycerate kinase 1 promoter Medium-strength promoter. PLoS One. 4:e5046 (2009) View
UBC Human ubiquitin C promoter Weak promoter. Nucl Acids Res. 24:1787 (1996); PLoS One. 5:e10611 (2010) View
Note : 
  • Some components have different versions that differ slightly in sequence but are functionally equivalent. VectorBuilder may use different versions depending on context.
  • CAG and CBh promoters contain different versions of modified chicken β-actin promoter.
Mammalian Tissue-specific Promoters
Name Description Tissue Specificity Cell Type Specificity References Sequence
Nanog Mouse nanog promoter Embryonic inner cell mass Pluripotent stem cells such as embryonic stem cells J Biol Chem. 280:24731 (2005) View
Nes Rat nestin intron 2 enhancer fused to mouse Hsp68 minimal promoter Nervous system at embryonic stage Neural stem/progenitor cells Eur J Neurosci. 9:452 (1997); J Neurosci Res. 59:321 (2000) View
Tuba1a Rat α1A tubulin promoter Nervous systems at embryonic and early postnatal stages Developing neurons but not astrocytes or oligodendrocytes J Neurosci. 14:7319 (1994) View
Camk2a(long) Mouse α-calcium-calmodulin dependent kinase II promoter (8 kb) Forebrain CA1 pyramidal cells of the hippocampus Cell. 81:891 (1995); Cell. 87:1317 (1996) View
Camk2a(short) Mouse α-calcium-calmodulin dependent kinase II promoter (1.3 kb) Brain Pyramidal neurons Neuroscience. 161:441 (2009) View
SYN1 Human synapsin I promoter Brain Mature neurons Mol Ther. 5:509 (2002) View
Hb9 Mouse Hb9 enhancer fused to mouse Hsp68 minimal promoter Spinal cord Motor neurons Exp Neurol. 196:224 (2005); Dev Biol. 283:474 (2005) View
Th Mouse tyrosine hydroxylase promoter Brain Dopaminergic neurons Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 274:590 (2000); Neurosci Lett. 363:33 (2004) View
Thy1 Mouse thymus cell antigen 1 promoter Brain Neurons EMBO J. 9:833 (1990); Neuron. 28:41 (2000); Cell Rep. 13:1989 (2015) View
NSE Rat neuron-specific enolase promoter Nervous system Various neurons Neuron. 5:187 (1990); J Mol Neurosci. 8:63(1997) View
GFAP(long) Human glial fibrillary acidic protein promoter (2.1 kb) Brain Astrocytes J Neurosci. 14:1030 (1994) View
GFAP(short) Human glial fibrillary acidic protein promoter (0.68 kb) Brain Astrocytes Glia. 56:481 (2008) View
Iba1 Mouse ionized calcium binding adapter molecule 1 promoter Brain Microglia J Neurosci Res. 81:357 (2005) View
ProA1 Mouse Gnat2 promoter Retina Cone photoreceptor Nat Neurosci. 22:1345 (2019); Int J Mol Sci. 21:4197 (2020) View
hRHO Human rhodopsin promoter Retina Rod photoreceptor J Virol. 81: 11372 (2007); eLife. 5: e12242 (2016) View
hBEST1 Human bestrophin 1 promoter Retina RPE Hum Mol Genet. 18:128 (2009) View
Grm6 A 200-bp enhancer of mGluR6 (mouse metabotropic glutamate receptor 6) fused to a basal SV40 promoter (0.4 kb) Retina ON-bipolar cells J Neurosci. 28:2008 View
Grm6(short) A 200-bp enhancer of mGluR6 (mouse glutamate metabotropic receptor 6) fused to a 500-bp mGluR6 promoter (0.7 kb) Retina ON-bipolar cells Gene Ther. 23:680 (2016); Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 119:e2117038119 (2022) View
Grm6(long) Intron 4, 3, and a 200-bp enhancer of mGluR6 (mouse glutamate metabotropic receptor 6) fused to a 500-bp mGluR6 promoter (2.2 kb) Retina ON-bipolar cells Gene Ther. 23:680 (2016); Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 119:e2117038119 (2022) View
Prnp Mouse prion protein promoter Brain, hippocampus, cerebellum, retina Various CNS neurons Eur J Neurosci. 14:1777 (2001) View
Cnp Mouse 2′,3′-cyclic nucleotide 3′-phosphodiesterase promoter Nervous systems, testis and thymus Oligodendrocytes and Schwann cells J Neurosci Res. 53:393 (1998); J Neurosci. 19:759 (1999) View
K14 Human keratin 14 promoter Epidermis Keratinocytes Gene. 153:297 (1995) View
K19 Mouse keratin 19 promoter Epidermis Keratinocytes J Biol Chem. 275:28230 (2000); Genesis. 46:318 (2008) View
BK5 Bovine keratin 5 promoter Epidermis Keratinocytes Differentiation. 58:53 (1994); Oncogene. 19:4243 (2000) View
mTyr Mouse tyrosinase promoter and enhancer Epidermis Melanocytes and melanoma cells Development. 120:2103 (1994); Gene Ther. 1:307 (1994); Int J Mol Sci. 17: 2149 (2016) View
cTnT Chicken cardiac troponin T promoter Heart Cardiomyocytes Am J Physiol Cell Physiol. 286:C556 (2004); Gene Ther. 18: 43 (2011); Circ Res. 115:354 (2014) View
αMHC(long) Mouse α-cardiac myosin heavy chain promoter (5.4 kb) Heart Cardiomyocytes J Biol Chem. 266:24613 (1991) View
αMHC(short) Mouse α-cardiac myosin heavy chain promoter (2.8 kb) Heart Cardiomyocytes J Biol Chem. 266:24613 (1991) View
Myog Mouse myogenin promoter Muscle Myoblasts Genes Dev. 7:1277 (1993) View
ACTA1 Human skeletal muscle actin α1 promoter Muscle Myocytes J Biol Chem. 268:719 (1993) View
MHCK7 Composed of enhancer/promoter regions of murine muscle creatine kinase (MCK) and enhancer region of α-myosin heavy-chain genes Mouse skeletal and heart muscles Differentiated postmitotic striated muscle cells Mol Ther. 15:320 (2007); Sci Transl Med. 9(418) (2017) View
SM22a Mouse transgelin (a.k.a. Sm22a) promoter Adult smooth muscle Vascular smooth muscle cells J Cell Biol. 132:849 (1996) View
EnSM22a The chimeric vascular smooth muscle-specific enhancer/promoter (The rabbit myosin heavy-chain enhancer inserted upstream of a truncated mouse SM22a promoter) Adult smooth muscle Vascular smooth muscle cells J Pharmacol Exp Ther. 329: 775 (2009) View
Runx2 Mouse runt related transcription factor 2 promoter Bone Early osteoblasts Biochim Biophys Acta. 1731:95 (2005) View
OC Human osteocalcin promoter Bone and cartilage Osteoblasts, osteocytes and hypertrophic chondrocytes Mol Endocrinol. 11:1695 (1997) View
Col1a1 Rat collagen type I α1 promoter Bone, tooth and tendon Osteoblasts and fibroblasts J Bone Miner Res. 9:285 (1994) View
Col2a1 Mouse collagen type II α1 promoter Cartilage Chondrocytes Genesis. 45:44 (2007) View
aP2 Rat adipocyte P2 promoter Fat Adipocytes J Biol Chem. 268:22243 (1993) View
Adipoq Mouse adiponectin promoter Fat Adipocytes Endocrinology. 151:2933 (2010) View
Tie1 Mouse tyrosine kinase with immunoglobulin-like and EGF-like domains 1 promoter Blood vessel Endothelial cells J Cell Sci. 115:2075 (2002) View
Cd144 Mouse cadherin 5 (a.k.a. VE-Cadherin) promoter Blood vessels Vascular endothelial cells Dev Dyn. 235:759 (2006) View
CD68(short) Human CD68 promoter, short, recommended for in vitro use Blood Monocytes and macrophages Gene Ther. 19:1041 (2012) View
CD68(long) Human CD68 promoter, long, recommended for in vivo use Blood Monocytes and macrophages J Immunol. 168:3402(2002); Blood. 124:e33 (2014) View
CD11b Human integrin subunit alpha M promoter Bone marrow Mature myeloid cell lines (neutrophils, monocytes and macrophages) Blood. 79:865 (1992); Blood. 85:319 (1995) View
Afp Mouse α-fetoprotein enhancer II fused with human beta globin promoter Liver Hepatocytes Science. 235:53 (1987); Mol Cell Biol. 15:4947 (1995) View
Alb Mouse albumin promoter Liver Mature hepatocytes Genes Dev. 1:268 (1987) View
TBG Human thyroxine-binding globulin promoter Liver Hepatocytes Gene. 506:289 (2012) View
TBG+intron Human alpha-1-microglobulin/bikunin enhancer and thyroxine-binding globulin hybrid promoter fused to a chimeric intron (SD site from a human β-globin intron and SA site from an immunoglobulin heavy chain variable region intron) Liver Hepatocytes J Biol Chem. 267:20765 (1992); Nat Chem Biol. 17:326 (2021) View
MMTV Mouse mammary tumor virus long terminal repeat (LTR) Mammary gland Ductal cells of the salivary gland, mammary epithelial cells Nucleic Acids Res. 25:4323 (1997) View
Wap Mouse whey acidic protein promoter Mammary gland Alveolar epithelial cells of mammary tissue Nucleic Acids Res. 25:4323 (1997) View
HIP Human insulin promoter Pancreas β cells Cell. 52:773 (1998); Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 100: 6688 (2003) View
Pdx1 Mouse pancreatic and duodenal homeobox 1 promoter Embryonic developing pancreas and adult pancreatic islets Pancreatic progenitor cells and pancreatic β cells Development. 129:2447 (2002) View
Ins2 Rat insulin 2 promoter Pancreas Pancreatic β cells Nature. 315:115 (1985);Nature. 429:41 (2004) View
Hcn4 Mouse hyperpolarization-activated cyclic nucleotide-gated K+ 4 promoter Embryonic heart Cardiomyocytes Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 353:67 (2007) View
NPHS2 Human podocin promoter Kidney Podocytes Genesis. 35:39 (2003) View
SPB Human surfactant protein B promoter Lung AT II cells (alveolar type II epithelial cells) and Clara cells (bronchiolar epithelial cells) J Biol Chem. 270:24852 (1995); Gene Ther. 14:1461 (2007) View
CD144 Human cadherin 5 (a.k.a. VE-Cadherin) promoter Lung, heart, ovary, spleen and kidney glomeruli Vascular endothelial cells Oncogene. 24:2992 (2005) View
TERT Human telomerase reverse transcriptase promoter Tumor Immortalized and cancer cells Cancer Res. 59:551 (1999); Cancer Res. 60:5359 (2000) View
Mammalian Inducible Promoters
Name Description Application Notes References Sequence
TRE Tetracycline-responsive element promoter (2nd generation) Regulated by a class of transcription factors (e.g. tTA, rtTA and tTS) whose activities are dependent on tetracycline or its analogs (e.g. doxycycline). Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 89:5547 (1992); Science. 268:1766 (1995); J Gene Med. 1:4 (1999) View
TRE3G Tetracycline-responsive element promoter (3rd generation) Bound by transactivator Tet3G in the presence of tetracycline or its analogs (e.g. doxycycline); low background activity. Gene Ther. 13:1382 (2006) View
Yeast Inducible Promoters
Name Description Application Notes References Sequence
GAL1 Saccharomyces cerevisiae galactokinase promoter Repressed in the presence of glucose; induced in the presence of galactose. Mol Cell Biol. 4:1440 (1984); Nucleic Acids Res. 22:5767 (1994) View
MET17 Saccharomyces cerevisiae O-acetyl homoserine-O-acetyl serine sulfhydrylase promoter; aka MET25 and MET15 Repressed in the presence of methionine. Mol Gen Genet. 200:407 (1985); Biotechnol Prog. 21:617 (2005) View
CUP1 Saccharomyces cerevisiae metallothionein promoter Induced in the presence of copper. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 81:3332 (1984); Yeast. 16:651 (2000) View
AOX1 Methanol-induced alcohol oxidase 1 promoter from Pichia pastoris Maximally induced during growth on methanol and fully repressed during growth on glucose or glycerol. Nucleic Acids Res. 15:3859 (1987); J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol. 42:1175 (2015) View
Plant Constitutive Promoters
Name Description Application Notes References Sequence
CaMV35S(short) Cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter (short) Strong constitutive promoter, drives high-level gene expression in dicot plants but is less effective in monocots. Nature. 313:810 (1985) View
CaMV35S(long) Cauliflower mosaic virus 35S promoter (long) Strong promoter. Biotechnol Lett. 29:1793 (2007) View
CaMV35S(enhanced) A chimeric promoter with the doubled CaMV 35S enhancer element Strong promoter. Plant Mol Biol. 21:415 (1993); Biotechnol Lett. 29:1793 (2007) View
Nos Agrobacterium nopaline synthase promoter Weaker promoter compared to CaMV 35S promoter. Nucleic Acids Res. 12:7831 (1984); Plant Cell. 2:225 (1990) View
ZmUbi Maize ubiquitin promoter Strong constitutive promoter, drives high-level gene expression in monocots. BMC Plant Biol. 14: 327 (2014) View
Yeast Constitutive Promoters
Name Description Application Notes References Sequence
TEF1 Saccharomyces cerevisiae translation elongation factor EF-1 alpha promoter Strong promoter. EMBO J. 3:3311 (1984); Yeast. 27:955 (2010) View
GPD Saccharomyces cerevisiae glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase promoter Strong promoter. Gene. 32:263 (1984) View
ADH1(short) Saccharomyces cerevisiae alcohol dehydrogenase promoter Weak promoter (stronger than ADH1(medium) and ADH1(long)). FEMS Microbiol Lett. 121:229 (1994) View
ADH1(medium) Saccharomyces cerevisiae alcohol dehydrogenase promoter Weak promoter (stronger than ADH1(long)). FEMS Microbiol Lett. 121:229 (1994) View
ADH1(long) Saccharomyces cerevisiae alcohol dehydrogenase promoter Weak promoter. FEMS Microbiol Lett. 121:229 (1994) View
GAP Glyceraldehydes-3-phosphate dehydrogenase promoter from Pichia pastoris Strong constitutive promoter. Gene. 186:37 (1997); J Ind Microbiol Biotechnol. 42:1175 (2015) View
Drosophila Ubiquitous Promoters
Name Description Application Notes References Sequence
actin5C The distal promoter of cytoskeletal actin 5C gene of Drosophila melanogaster, controling synthesis of actin in a tissue- and developmental stage-specific manner Strong promoter Mol Cell Biol. 10:6172 (1990); Nucleic Acids Res. 19:5037 (1991) View
Polyubiquitin Promoter of polyubiqutin gene of Drosophila melanogaster Strong promoter Mol Cell Biol. 8:4727 (1988); Methods Mol Biol. 62:385 (1997) View
a1tubulin Promoter of α1-tubulin gene of Drosophila melanogaster Medium-strength promoter Nucleic Acids Res. 19:5037 (1991) View
Drosophila Pol III Promoters
Name Description Application Notes References Sequence
U6-1 U6 small nuclear RNA gene promoter U6-1 of Drosophila melanogaster Pol III promoter; drives intermediate expression level of small RNAs. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 331:1163 (2005); Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 111:E2967 (2014) View
U6-2 U6 small nuclear RNA gene promoter U6-2 of Drosophila melanogaster Pol III promoter; drives lowest expression level of small RNAs. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 331:1163 (2005); Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 111:E2967 (2014) View
U6-3 U6 small nuclear RNA gene promoter U6-3 of Drosophila melanogaster Pol III promoter; drives strongest expression level of small RNAs. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 331:1163 (2005); Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 111:E2967 (2014) View
Worm Ubiquitous Promoters
Name Description Application Notes References Sequence
eft-3 C. elegans translation elongation factor 1-α promoter Strong promoter; drives high levels of gene expression in somatic cells. Genes Dev. 14: 2173 (2000) View
pie-1 C. elegans pharynx and intestine in excess protein 1 promoter lacking repetitive sequences Strong promoter; drives high levels of gene expression in all germ cells from the late L1 stage to the adult stage. Curr Biol. 18:1476 (2008) View
Worm Tissue-specific Promoters
Name Description Tissue Specificity Cell Type Specificity References Sequence
spe-11 C. elegans spermatocyte protein spe-11 promoter / Sperm Curr Biol. 18:1476 (2008) View
myo-2 C. elegans myosin-2 promoter / Pharyngeal muscle cells Genetics. 135:385 (1993); Nat Genet. 40:1375 (2008) View
myo-3 C. elegans myosin-3 promoter / Body muscle cells Genetics. 135:385 (1993); Nat Genet. 40:1375 (2008) View
rab-3 C. elegans ras-related protein Rab-3 promoter Nervous system Pan-neuronal Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 113: E1074 (2016) View
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