title: Differentially spliced erg-3 product functions as a transcriptional activator.
abstract: ets oncogene superfamily consists of a family of transcriptional factors that functions as activators and/or repressors. Previously, we have identified a member of this ets superfamily namely erg, ets related gene. erg gene was shown to code for at least two proteins erg-1 and erg-2 because of alternative splicing and alternative usage of initiation codon. In this report we show that erg gene codes for an additional erg variant protein, erg-3 as a result of differential splicing which results in the insertion of 24 amino acids in the coding region of erg-2 protein. RNAase protection analysis revealed that erg-3 transcripts are expressed in a variety of cells. Erg-3 was also found to activate the transcription of the reporter TK-CAT gene linked to erg target sequences suggesting that erg-3 codes for a sequence specific transcriptional activator.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Jefferson Cancer Institute, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19107.
authors.forename: D D
authors.initials: DD
authors.lastname: Prasad
authors.forename: V N
authors.initials: VN
authors.lastname: Rao
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: Reddy
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001483:Base Sequence; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D005809:Genes, Regulator / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D017930:Genes, Reporter / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D015533:Transcriptional Activation / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D000071230:Transcriptional Regulator ERG
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C072312:ERG protein, human; D015534:Trans-Activators; D014157:Transcription Factors; D000071230:Transcriptional Regulator ERG; D004247:DNA