Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) catalyzes the rapid and extensive poly(ADP-ribosyl)ation of nuclear proteins in response to DNA strand breaks, and its expression, although ubiquitous, is modulated from tissue to tissue and during cellular differentiation. PARP-1 gene promoters from human, rat, and mouse have been cloned, and they share a structure common to housekeeping genes, as they lack a functional TATA box and contain multiple GC boxes, which bind the transcriptional activator Sp1. We have previously shown that, although Sp1 is important for rat PARP1 (rPARP) promoter activity, its finely tuned modulation is likely dependent on other transcription factors that bind the rPARP proximal promoter in vitro. In this study, we identified one such factor as NF1-L, a rat liver isoform of the nuclear factor 1 family of transcription factors. The NF1-L site on the rPARP promoter overlaps one of the Sp1 binding sites previously identified, and we demonstrated that binding of both factors to this composite element is mutually exclusive. Furthermore, we provide evidence that NF1-L has no effect by itself on rPARP promoter activity, but rather down-regulates the Sp1 activity by interfering with its ability to bind the rPARP promoter in order to modulate transcription of the rPARP gene.Poly(ADP-ribose) polymerase-1 (PARP-1) 1 is a nuclear enzyme which catalyzes the addition of ADP-ribose units from nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD ϩ ) onto itself and other nuclear proteins such as histones and topoisomerases (reviewed in Refs. 1 and 2). It is made up of three functional domains, namely the amino-terminal DNA-binding domain, the central automodification domain, and the carboxyl-terminal catalytic domain (3). Although PARP-1 is often associated with DNA repair, because of its rapid and extensive activation following DNA damage (4, 5), it has also been implicated in other major nuclear functions such as transcription (6, 7), DNA replication (8, 9) and recombination (10). PARP-1 is also important for cell differentiation (11-13) and is involved in cell death, likely acting as a molecular switch between apoptosis and necrosis (14).PARP-1 is expressed in all organs, albeit at varying degrees, with highest mRNA expression found in brain, thymus, heart, and testis (15, 16). PARP-1 mRNA level is regulated at the cell cycle level, reaching its peak at either the G 1 (17-20) or the S phases (21, 22). It has also been shown that a decrease in PARP-1 mRNA levels is associated with cellular differentiation (23-26) and senescence (27), whereas an increase is observed upon activation of lymphocytes (17, 28) or peripheral blood mononuclear cells (18). All these studies show that, although PARP-1 is ubiquitously expressed, its modulation, likely through complex transcriptional regulation, is critical to major cellular functions.In order to better understand the transcriptional mechanisms regulating PARP-1 expression, the PARP-1 gene promoter has been identified and cloned from three mammalian species, human (29, 30), rat (31), ...