Expression and activity of the POU transcription factor SCIP.
POU proteins have been shown to transcriptionally active cell-specific genes and to participate in the determination of cell fate. It is therefore thought that these proteins function in development through the stable activation of genes that define specific developmental pathways. Evidence is provided here for an alternative mode of action. The primary structure of SCIP, a POU protein expressed by developing Schwann cells of the peripheral nervous system, was deduced and SCIP activity was studied. Both in normal development and in response to nerve transection, SCIP expression was transiently activated only during the period of rapid cell division that separates the premyelinating and myelinating phases of Schwann cell differentiation. In cotransfection assays, SCIP acted as a transcriptional repressor of myelin-specific genes.
Monuki
E S
ES
Molecular Neurobiology Laboratory, Salk Institute, La Jolla, CA 92037.
Kuhn
R
R
Weinmaster
G
G
Trapp
B D
BD
Lemke
G
G
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D000242:Cyclic AMP / Q000502:physiology; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D015723:Gene Library; D005801:Genes, Homeobox / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009186:Myelin Sheath / Q000378:metabolism; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D050816:Octamer Transcription Factor-6; D051381:Rats; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D012583:Schwann Cells / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D014162:Transfection
D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; C494179:Pou3f1 protein, rat; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D050816:Octamer Transcription Factor-6; D000242:Cyclic AMP