We have used a combination of techniques to identify a weak promoter located about 70 nucleotides before the start site of translation of the Escherichia coli dam gene which encodes a DNA methyltransferase. The promoter activity was identified by the use of lacZ fusions to fragments containing different lengths of upstream DNA. In vitro run-off transcription and primer extension determinations revealed transcription initiation sites at either 69 or 73 nucleotides prior to the ATG of the dam coding sequence. No ribosome binding sequence was present close to the ATG codon suggesting that the transcript may be inefficiently translated.