Identification of Transcriptional Enhancer Factor-4 as a Transcriptional Modulator of CTP:Phosphocholine Cytidylyltransferase α
CTP:phosphocholine cytidylyltransferase (CCT) is the rate-limiting and regulated enzyme of mammalian phosphatidylcholine biosynthesis. There are three isoforms, CCTα, CCTβ1, and CCTβ2. The mouse CCTα gene promoter is regulated by an enhancer element (Eb) located between −103 and −82 base pairs (5′-GTTTTCAGGAATGCGGAGGTGG-3′) upstream from the transcriptional start site (Bakovic, M., Waite, K., Tang, W., Tabas, I., and Vance, D. E. (1999)Biochim. Biophys. Acta1436, 147–165). To identify the Eb-binding protein(s), we screened a mouse embryo cDNA library by the yeast one-hybrid system and obtained 19 positive clones. Ten cDNA clones were identified as transcriptional enhancer factor-4 (TEF-4). The TEF-binding consensus sequence, 5′-(A/T)(A/G)(A/G)(A/T)ATG(C/T)(G/A)-3′, was identified within the Eb binding region. Gel-shift analysis using radiolabeled Eb fragment as a probe showed that cell extracts from yeast expressing hemagglutinin-tagged TEF-4 caused a marked band retardation that could be prevented with an anti-hemagglutinin antibody. When COS-7 cells were transfected with TEF-4, CCTα promoter-luciferase reporter activity and CCTα mRNA levels increased. A TEF-4 deletion mutant containing a DNA-binding domain, mTEA(+), stimulated the CCTα promoter activity, whereas protein lacking the DNA binding domain, mTEA(−), did not. Unexpectedly, when the ATG core of the TEF-4 binding consensus within the Eb region was mutated, promoter activity was enhanced rather than decreased. Thus, TEF-4 might act as a dual transcriptional modulator as follows: as a suppressor via its direct binding to the Eb element and as an activator via its interactions with the basal transcriptional machinery. These results provide the first evidence that TEF-4 is an important regulator of CCTα gene expression.