title: Octamer transcription factors bind to two different sequence motifs of the immunoglobulin heavy chain promoter.
abstract: All promoters of immunoglobulin heavy chain genes contain three conserved sequence motifs: a heptamer motif CTCATGA, an octamer motif ATGCAAAT, and a TATA box. We show that, despite their different sequences, both the heptamer and the octamer motif are bound by the same octamer transcription factors (Oct factors, also referred to as OTFs), namely the lymphoid-specific proteins Oct-2A and Oct-2B, as well as the ubiquitous protein Oct-1. Even though binding to the octamer motif is stronger, a single heptamer motif can bind Oct proteins and mediate transcriptional activity in lymphoid cells. Furthermore, factor binding to the octamer motif facilitates binding to the nearby heptamer motif. We propose that the heptamer element plays a role early in B-cell differentiation to ensure that the heavy chain promoters are transcriptionally activated before the light chain promoters, which do not contain the heptamer motif.
authors.affiliation: Institut für Molekularbiologie II der Universität Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Kemler
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Schreiber
authors.forename: M M
authors.initials: MM
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Matthias
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Schaffner
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D002467:Cell Nucleus / Q000378:metabolism; D005803:Genes, Immunoglobulin; D006367:HeLa Cells / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains / Q000235:genetics*; D007700:Kinetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D011485:Protein Binding; D014176:Protein Biosynthesis; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D007143:Immunoglobulin Heavy Chains; D014157:Transcription Factors