scholarly journals Cell Cycle Localization, Dimerization, and Binding Domain Architecture of the Telomere Protein cPot1

2004 ◽  
Vol 24 (5) ◽  
pp. 2091-2102 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chao Wei ◽  
Carolyn M. Price

ABSTRACT Pot1 is a single-stranded-DNA-binding protein that recognizes telomeric G-strand DNA. It is essential for telomere capping in Saccharomyces pombe and regulates telomere length in humans. Human Pot1 also interacts with proteins that bind the duplex region of the telomeric tract. Thus, like Cdc13 from S. cerevisiae, Pot 1 may have multiple roles at the telomere. We show here that endogenous chicken Pot1 (cPot1) is present at telomeres during periods of the cell cycle when t loops are thought to be present. Since cPot1 can bind internal loops and directly adjacent DNA-binding sites, it is likely to fully coat and protect both G-strand overhangs and the displaced G strand of a t loop. The minimum binding site of cPot1 is double that of the S. pombe DNA-binding domain. Although cPot can self associate, dimerization is not required for DNA binding and hence does not explain the binding-site duplication. Instead, the DNA-binding domain appears to be extended to contain a second binding motif in addition to the conserved oligonucleotide-oligosaccharide (OB) fold present in other G-strand-binding proteins. This second motif could be another OB fold. Although dimerization is inefficient in vitro, it may be regulated in vivo and could promote association with other telomere proteins and/or telomere compaction.

1997 ◽  
Vol 17 (11) ◽  
pp. 6491-6501 ◽  
Author(s):  
B Mai ◽  
L Breeden

We have identified Xbp1 (XhoI site-binding protein 1) as a new DNA-binding protein with homology to the DNA-binding domain of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae cell cycle regulating transcription factors Swi4 and Mbp1. The DNA recognition sequence was determined by random oligonucleotide selection and confirmed by gel retardation and footprint analyses. The consensus binding site of Xbp1, GcCTCGA(G/A)G(C/A)g(a/g), is a palindromic sequence, with an XhoI restriction enzyme recognition site at its center. This Xbpl binding site is similar to Swi4/Swi6 and Mbp1/Swi6 binding sites but shows a clear difference from these elements in one of the central core bases. There are binding sites for Xbp1 in the G1 cyclin promoter (CLN1), but they are distinct from the Swi4/Swi6 binding sites in CLN1, and Xbp1 will not bind to Swi4/Swi6 or Mbp1/Swi6 binding sites. The XBP1 promoter contains several stress-regulated elements, and its expression is induced by heat shock, high osmolarity, oxidative stress, DNA damage, and glucose starvation. When fused to the LexA DNA-binding domain, Xbp1 acts as transcriptional repressor, defining it as the first repressor in the Swi4/Mbp1 family and the first potential negative regulator of transcription induced by stress. Overexpression of XBP1 results in a slow-growth phenotype, lengthening of G1, an increase in cell volume, and a repression of G1 cyclin expression. These observations suggest that Xbp1 may contribute to the repression of specific transcripts and cause a transient cell cycle delay under stress conditions.


2000 ◽  
Vol 20 (13) ◽  
pp. 4814-4825 ◽  
Author(s):  
James V. Falvo ◽  
Bhavin S. Parekh ◽  
Charles H. Lin ◽  
Ernest Fraenkel ◽  
Tom Maniatis

ABSTRACT Heterodimeric transcription factors, including the basic region-leucine zipper (bZIP) protein ATF-2–c-jun, are well-characterized components of an enhanceosome that mediates virus induction of the human beta interferon (IFN-β) gene. Here we report that within the IFN-β enhanceosome the ATF-2–c-jun heterodimer binds in a specific orientation, which is required for assembly of a complex between ATF-2–c-jun and interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF-3). We demonstrate that correct orientation of the ATF-2–c-jun binding site is required for virus induction of the IFN-β gene and for IRF-3-dependent activation of a composite ATF-2– c-jun–IRF site in the IFN-β promoter. We also show that in vitro the DNA-bound ATF-2–c-jun heterodimer adopts a fixed orientation upon the binding of IRF-3 at an adjacent site in the IFN-β enhancer and that the DNA-binding domain of IRF-3 is sufficient to mediate this effect. In addition, we show that the DNA-binding domain of ATF-2 is necessary and sufficient for selective protein-protein interactions with IRF-3. Strikingly, in vivo chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments with IFN-β reporter constructs reveal that recruitment of IRF-3 to the IFN-β promoter upon virus infection is dependent on the orientation of the ATF-2–c-jun heterodimer binding site. These observations demonstrate functional and physical cooperativity between the bZIP and IRF transcription factor families and illustrate the critical role of heterodimeric transcription factors in formation of the IFN-β enhanceosome.


1994 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 6056-6067
Author(s):  
M Tanaka ◽  
W Herr

The POU domain activator Oct-2 contains an N-terminal glutamine-rich transcriptional activation domain. An 18-amino-acid segment (Q18III) from this region reconstituted a fully functional activation domain when tandemly reiterated and fused to either the Oct-2 or GAL4 DNA-binding domain. A minimal transcriptional activation domain likely requires three tandem Q18III segments, because one or two tandem Q18III segments displayed little activity, whereas three to five tandem segments were active and displayed increasing activity with increasing copy number. As with natural Oct-2 activation domains, in our assay a reiterated activation domain required a second homologous or heterologous activation domain to stimulate transcription effectively when fused to the Oct-2 POU domain. These results suggest that there are different levels of synergy within and among activation domains. Analysis of reiterated activation domains containing mutated Q18III segments revealed that leucines and glutamines, but not serines or threonines, are critical for activity in vivo. Curiously, several reiterated activation domains that were inactive in vivo were active in vitro, suggesting that there are significant functional differences in our in vivo and in vitro assays. Reiteration of a second 18-amino-acid segment from the Oct-2 glutamine-rich activation domain (Q18II) was also active, but its activity was DNA-binding domain specific, because it was active when fused to the GAL4 than to the Oct-2 DNA-binding domain. The ability of separate short peptide segments derived from a single transcriptional activation domain to activate transcription after tandem reiteration emphasizes the flexible and modular nature of a transcriptional activation domain.


1994 ◽  
Vol 14 (3) ◽  
pp. 1852-1860
Author(s):  
K Nakagomi ◽  
Y Kohwi ◽  
L A Dickinson ◽  
T Kohwi-Shigematsu

The nuclear matrix attachment DNA (MAR) binding protein SATB1 is a sequence context-specific binding protein that binds in the minor groove, making virtually no contact with the DNA bases. The SATB1 binding sites consist of a special AT-rich sequence context in which one strand is well-mixed A's, T's, and C's, excluding G's (ATC sequences), which is typically found in clusters within different MARs. To determine the extent of conservation of the SATB1 gene among different species, we cloned a mouse homolog of the human STAB1 cDNA from a cDNA expression library of the mouse thymus, the tissue in which this protein is predominantly expressed. This mouse cDNA encodes a 764-amino-acid protein with a 98% homology in amino acid sequence to the human SATB1 originally cloned from testis. To characterize the DNA binding domain of this novel class of protein, we used the mouse SATB1 cDNA and delineated a 150-amino-acid polypeptide as the binding domain. This region confers full DNA binding activity, recognizes the specific sequence context, and makes direct contact with DNA at the same nucleotides as the whole protein. This DNA binding domain contains a novel DNA binding motif: when no more than 21 amino acids at either the N- or C-terminal end of the binding domain are deleted, the majority of the DNA binding activity is lost. The concomitant presence of both terminal sequences is mandatory for binding. These two terminal regions consist of hydrophilic amino acids and share homologous sequences that are different from those of any known DNA binding motifs. We propose that the DNA binding region of SATB1 extends its two terminal regions toward DNA to make direct contact with DNA.


1992 ◽  
Vol 12 (3) ◽  
pp. 1209-1217
Author(s):  
C F Hardy ◽  
D Balderes ◽  
D Shore

RAP1 is an essential sequence-specific DNA-binding protein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae whose binding sites are found in a large number of promoters, where they function as upstream activation sites, and at the silencer elements of the HMR and HML mating-type loci, where they are important for repression. We have examined the involvement of specific regions of the RAP1 protein in both repression and activation of transcription by studying the properties of a series of hybrid proteins containing RAP1 sequences fused to the DNA-binding domain of the yeast protein GAL4 (amino acids 1 to 147). GAL4 DNA-binding domain/RAP1 hybrids containing only the carboxy-terminal third of the RAP1 protein (which lacks the RAP1 DNA-binding domain) function as transcriptional activators of a reporter gene containing upstream GAL4 binding sites. Expression of some hybrids from the strong ADH1 promoter on multicopy plasmids has a dominant negative effect on silencers, leading to either partial or complete derepression of normally silenced genes. The GAL4/RAP1 hybrids have different effects on wild-type and several mutated but functional silencers. Silencers lacking either an autonomously replicating sequence consensus element or the RAP1 binding site are strongly derepressed, whereas the wild-type silencer or a silencer containing a deletion of the binding site for another silencer-binding protein, ABF1, are only weakly affected by hybrid expression. By examining a series of GAL4 DNA-binding domain/RAP1 hybrids, we have mapped the transcriptional activation and derepression functions to specific parts of the RAP1 carboxy terminus.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)


1995 ◽  
Vol 15 (7) ◽  
pp. 3748-3758 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Bergers ◽  
P Graninger ◽  
S Braselmann ◽  
C Wrighton ◽  
M Busslinger

Constitutive expression of c-Fos, FosB, Fra-1, or c-Jun in rat fibroblasts leads to up-regulation of the immediate-early gene fra-1. Using the posttranslational FosER induction system, we demonstrate that this AP-1-dependent stimulation of fra-1 expression is rapid, depends on a functional DNA-binding domain of FosER, and is a general phenomenon observed in different cell types. In vitro mutagenesis and functional analysis of the rat fra-1 gene in stably transfected Rat-1A-FosER fibroblasts indicated that basal and AP-1-regulated expression of the fra-1 gene depends on regulatory sequences in the first intron which comprise a consensus AP-1 site and two AP-1-like elements. We have also investigated the transactivating and transforming properties of the Fra-1 protein to address the significance of fra-1 up-regulation. The entire Fra-1 protein fused to the DNA-binding domain of Ga14 is shown to lack any transactivation function, and yet it possesses oncogenic potential, as overexpression of Fra-1 in established rat fibroblasts results in anchorage-independent growth in vitro and tumor development in athymic mice, fra-1 is therefore not only induced by members of the Fos family, but its gene product may also contribute to cellular transformation by these proteins. Together, these data identify fra-1 as a unique member of the fos gene family which is under positive control by AP-1 activity.


1996 ◽  
Vol 16 (10) ◽  
pp. 5772-5781 ◽  
Author(s):  
D E Ayer ◽  
C D Laherty ◽  
Q A Lawrence ◽  
A P Armstrong ◽  
R N Eisenman

Transcription repression by the basic region-helix-loop-helix-zipper (bHLHZip) protein Mad1 requires DNA binding as a ternary complex with Max and mSin3A or mSin3B, the mammalian orthologs of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae transcriptional corepressor SIN3. The interaction between Mad1 and mSin3 is mediated by three potential amphipathic alpha-helices: one in the N terminus of Mad (mSin interaction domain, or SID) and two within the second paired amphipathic helix domain (PAH2) of mSin3A. Mutations that alter the structure of the SID inhibit in vitro interaction between Mad and mSin3 and inactivate Mad's transcriptional repression activity. Here we show that a 35-residue region containing the SID represents a dominant repression domain whose activity can be transferred to a heterologous DNA binding region. A fusion protein comprising the Mad1 SID linked to a Ga14 DNA binding domain mediates repression of minimal as well as complex promoters dependent on Ga14 DNA binding sites. In addition, the SID represses the transcriptional activity of linked VP16 and c-Myc transactivation domains. When fused to a full-length c-Myc protein, the Mad1 SID specifically represses both c-Myc's transcriptional and transforming activities. Fusions between the GAL DNA binding domain and full-length mSin3 were also capable of repression. We show that the association between Mad1 and mSin3 is not only dependent on the helical SID but is also dependent on both putative helices of the mSin3 PAH2 region, suggesting that stable interaction requires all three helices. Our results indicate that the SID is necessary and sufficient for transcriptional repression mediated by the Mad protein family and that SID repression is dominant over several distinct transcriptional activators.


1999 ◽  
Vol 19 (10) ◽  
pp. 6729-6741 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin Baetz ◽  
Brenda Andrews

ABSTRACTInSaccharomyces cerevisiae, two transcription factors, SBF (SCB binding factor) and MBF (MCB binding factor), promote the induction of gene expression at the G1/S-phase transition of the mitotic cell cycle. Swi4 and Mbp1 are the DNA binding components of SBF and MBF, respectively. The Swi6 protein is a common subunit of both transcription factors and is presumed to play a regulatory role. SBF binding to its target sequences, the SCBs, is a highly regulated event and requires the association of Swi4 with Swi6 through their C-terminal domains. Swi4 binding to SCBs is restricted to the late M and G1phases, when Swi6 is localized to the nucleus. We show that in contrast to Swi6, Swi4 remains nuclear throughout the cell cycle. This finding suggests that the DNA binding domain of Swi4 is inaccessible in the full-length protein when not complexed with Swi6. To explore this hypothesis, we expressed Swi4 and Swi6 in insect cells by using the baculovirus system. We determined that partially purified Swi4 cannot bind SCBs in the absence of Swi6. However, Swi4 derivatives carrying point mutations or alterations in the extreme C terminus were able to bind DNA or activate transcription in the absence of Swi6, and the C terminus of Swi4 inhibited Swi4 derivatives from binding DNA intrans. Full-length Swi4 was determined to be monomeric in solution, suggesting an intramolecular mechanism for auto-inhibition of binding to DNA by Swi4. We detected a direct in vitro interaction between a C-terminal fragment of Swi4 and the N-terminal 197 amino acids of Swi4, which contain the DNA binding domain. Together, our data suggest that intramolecular interactions involving the C-terminal region of Swi4 physically prevent the DNA binding domain from binding SCBs. The interaction of the carboxy-terminal region of Swi4 with Swi6 alleviates this inhibition, allowing Swi4 to bind DNA.


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