Activation of c-myc promoter by c-myc protein in serum starved cells.
The function of the c-myc protein, the product of a proto oncogene, is not clearly understood although many reports, including ours, suggest that the c-myc protein plays several roles in the regulation of transcription and DNA replication. Here we examined the effects of c-myc protein on transcription from the c-myc promoter, and by inference its role in auto-regulation, after introducing into cultured cells a c-myc expression vector and a CAT reporter gene linked to the promoter and upstream region of the human c-myc gene. To minimize the effects of the endogenous c-myc protein on the exogenously added CAT reporter gene, the transfected cells were treated under serum-free conditions. The results show that CAT expression from the myc promoter increased in a dose-dependent manner after addition of the c-myc expression vector, and that it also required the presence of a c-myc binding sequence previously identified 2 kb upstream from c-myc's first exon. Moreover, the domains of the c-myc protein important for transactivation were determined by use of various deletions mutants of c-myc cDNA. The results showed that the N-terminal portion in the c-myc protein was necessary for transactivation beside the C-terminal portion containing basic region, helix-loop-helix, and leucine zipper.
Kitaura
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Faculty of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Hokkaido University, Sapporo, Japan.
Galli
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Taira
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Iguchi-Ariga
S M
SM
Ariga
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D016475:3T3 Cells; D000818:Animals; D002522:Chlorocebus aethiops; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D007739:L Cells; D051379:Mice; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc / Q000235:genetics*; D011519:Proto-Oncogenes; D051381:Rats; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
C000715470:MAS1 protein, human; D000090063:Proto-Oncogene Mas; D016271:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-myc