title: Tandem AP-1-binding sites within the human beta-globin dominant control region function as an inducible enhancer in erythroid cells.
abstract: A powerful enhancer has been mapped to an 18-bp DNA segment located 11 kb 5' to the human epsilon-globin gene within the dominant control or locus-activating region. This enhancer is inducible in K562 human erythroleukemia cells, increasing linked gamma-globin promoter/luciferase gene expression to 170-fold over an enhancerless construct. The enhancer consists of tandem AP-1-binding sites, phased 10 bp apart, which are both required for full activity. DNA-protein binding assays with nuclear extracts from induced cells demonstrate a high molecular weight complex on the enhancer. The formation of this complex also requires both AP-1 sites and correlates with maximal enhancer activity. Induction of the enhancer may have a role in the increase in globin gene transcription that characterizes erythroid maturation. Enhancer activity appears to be mediated by the binding of a complex of proteins from the jun and fos families to tandem AP-1 consensus sequences.
authors.affiliation: Clinical Hematology Branch, National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
authors.forename: P A
authors.initials: PA
authors.lastname: Ney
authors.forename: B P
authors.initials: BP
authors.lastname: Sorrentino
authors.forename: K T
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: McDonagh
authors.forename: A W
authors.initials: AW
authors.lastname: Nienhuis
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic; D004912:Erythrocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005914:Globins / Q000235:genetics*; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D004915:Leukemia, Erythroblastic, Acute; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016755:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-jun; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D016755:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-jun; D014157:Transcription Factors; D005914:Globins; D004247:DNA