Nucleolin is one component of the B cell-specific transcription factor and switch region binding protein, LR1.
LR1 is a B cell-specific, sequence-specific DNA binding activity that regulates transcription in activated B cells. LR1 also binds Ig heavy chain switch region sequences and may function in class switch recombination. LR1 contains two polypeptides, of 106 kDa and 45 kDa, and here we report that the 106-kDa component of LR1 is nucleolin. This identification, initially made by microsequence analysis, was verified by showing that (i) LR1-DNA binding activity increased in B cells transfected with a nucleolin cDNA expression construct; (ii) LR1-DNA binding activity was recognized by antibodies raised against recombinant human nucleolin; and (iii) in B cells transfected with epitope-tagged nucleolin expression constructs, the LR1-DNA complex was recognized by the anti-tag antibody. Nucleolin is an abundant nucleolar protein which is believed to play a role in rDNA transcription or organization, or rRNA processing. Homology between nucleolin and histone H1 suggests that nucleolin may alter DNA organization in response to cell cycle controls, and the nucleolin component of LR1 may therefore function to organize switch regions before, during, or after switch recombination. The demonstration that nucleolin is a component of a B cell-specific complex that binds switch region sequences suggests that the G-rich switch regions may have evolved from rDNA.
Hanakahi
L A
LA
Department of Molecular Biophysics, Yale University, New Haven, CT 06520-8114, USA.
Dempsey
L A
LA
Li
M J
MJ
Maizels
N
N
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000276:immunology*; D002460:Cell Line; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D006801:Humans; D017578:Immunoglobulin Class Switching; D007134:Immunoglobulin Switch Region / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D010750:Phosphoproteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D000097796:Nucleolin
D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D010750:Phosphoproteins; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D000097796:Nucleolin; C484201:LR1 protein, human; C087378:LR1 protein, mouse