Activity and tissue-specific expression of the transcription factor NF-E1 multigene family.
NF-E1, a DNA-binding protein that recognizes the general consensus motif WGATAR, is the first tissue-specific factor to be identified in erythroid cells. Using a probe from the murine GF-1 (NF-E1) cDNA clone, we isolated three homologous chicken cDNAs: One of these corresponds to an mRNA (NF-E1a) that is abundantly and exclusively expressed in erythroid cells; a second mRNA (NF-E1b) is also expressed in all developmental stages of erythroid cells but is additionally found in a limited subset of other chicken tissues; mRNA representative of a third gene (NF-E1c) is expressed only in definitive (adult) erythrocytes within the red cell lineage but is also abundantly expressed in T lymphocytes and brain. All NF-E1 proteins are highly conserved within the DNA-binding domain and bind to the consensus motif with similar affinities in vitro; they are also all stimulatory trans-acting factors in vivo. The factors differ quantitatively in their ability to trans-activate reporter genes in which the number and position of cognate binding sites is varied relative to the transcriptional initiation site. These data suggest that the NF-E1 consensus motif directs a broader and more complicated array of developmental transcriptional regulatory processes than has been assumed and that NF-E1c may play a unique regulatory role in the developing chicken brain and in T lymphocytes.
Yamamoto
M
M
Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Cell Biology, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois 60208-3500.
Ko
L J
LJ
Leonard
M W
MW
Beug
H
H
Orkin
S H
SH
Engel
J D
JD
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002645:Chickens; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D050981:Erythroid-Specific DNA-Binding Factors; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D005810:Multigene Family / Q000235:genetics*; D009928:Organ Specificity / Q000235:genetics; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*; D015533:Transcriptional Activation / Q000502:physiology; D016335:Zinc Fingers
D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D050981:Erythroid-Specific DNA-Binding Factors; D014157:Transcription Factors