DBP (gene)
protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens
D site of albumin promoter (albumin D-box) binding protein, also known as DBP, is a protein which in humans is encoded by the DBP gene.
DBP is a member of the PAR bZIP (Proline and Acidic amino acid-Rich basic leucine ZIPper) transcription factor family.
DBP binds to an upstream promoter in the insulin gene.
DBP was shown to follow a stringent circadian rhythm; both the levels of protein and mRNA are almost non-detectable in the morning, but reach their maximum level in the evening.
Discovery of circadian rhythm of expression
The circadian rhythm of the expression of DBP was discovered by chance in the laboratory of Ueli Schibler at the University of Geneva in 1990. A canadian postdoc working in the lab, Chris Mueller, had identified the DBP transcription factor.
However, when a new PhD student in the lab, Jérôme Wuarin, took over the project on DBP, he failed to observe any expression of the protein, and initially thought that the original experiment was flawed.
It was later discovered that the two researchers were working at different times of the day: Chris Mueller was a night owl and a late riser, and would isolate the transcription factor by mid-afternoon, while Jérôme Wuarin was an early riser and obtained the sample at 7:00. Following this discovery, Jérôme Wuarin repeated the experiment every 4 hour during a full day, and found that the expression of DBP changed by a 100-fold factor over the day, ranging from being undetectable in the morning to being easy to find in the afternoon. While many genes have been found to be transcribed rhythmically since this discovery, DBP remains the one that has the largest amplitude between its minimum and maximum expression.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “DBP (gene)” is protein-coding gene in the species Homo sapiens. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through gene, protein-coding and species, not as a finished interpretation.
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Datasets, specimens, observations and peer-reviewed methods provide the appropriate test for the technical claims summarized here. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jan 2, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q17913174. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1990.
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This entry incorporates text from “DBP (gene)” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.