The promoter of mouse DNA polymerase beta gene was analyzed by combining 5'-upstream region of this gene with chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene and by introduction of the recombinant plasmid DNA into mouse NIH/3T3 cells. Serial deletion of the mouse DNA sequence revealed that the promoter function resides within a 33 base pair region from the nucleotide position -48 to -15 with respect to the transcription initiation site, and is highly active without enhancer sequence. The promoter region was separated into two subregions: one (-48 to -35) contains a GC-box and the other contains a 10 base pair palindrome, whose sequence is similar to one of promoter consensus sequences found in a number of promoters including adenovirus promoters. The DNA polymerase beta promoter-directed CAT expression was competitively inhibited by the simultaneous transfection of plasmid DNA containing SV40 early promoter sequence. The viral sequences which are competitive to the GC-box of DNA polymerase beta gene promoter were the GC-boxes of SV40 promoter. Therefore, it is concluded that transcription of mouse DNA polymerase beta gene is regulated by mouse trans-acting factors equivalent to human Sp1 which is known to be trans-acting protein factor acting on SV40 GC-box sequences.