title: FIGalpha, a germ cell specific transcription factor involved in the coordinate expression of the zona pellucida genes.
abstract: The mouse zona pellucida is composed of three glycoproteins, ZP1, ZP2 and ZP3, encoded by single-copy genes whose expression is temporally and spatially restricted to oocytes. All three proteins are required for the formation of the extracellular zona matrix and female mice with a single disrupted zona gene lack a zona and are infertile. An E-box (CANNTG), located approximately 200 bp upstream of the transcription start sites of Zp1, Zp2 and Zp3, forms a protein-DNA complex present in oocytes and, to a much lesser extent, in testes. It has been previously shown that the integrity of this E-box in Zp2 and Zp3 promoters is required for expression of luciferase reporter genes microinjected into growing oocytes. The presence of the ubiquitous transcription factor E12 in the complex was used to identify a novel basic helix-loop-helix protein, FIGalpha (Factor In the Germline alpha) whose expression was limited to oocytes within the ovary. The ability of FIGalpha to transactivate reporter genes coupled to each of the three mouse zona promoters in heterologous 10T(1/2) embryonic fibroblasts suggests a role in coordinating the expression of the three zona pellucida genes during oogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Cellular and Developmental Biology, NIDDK, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892, USA.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Liang
authors.forename: S M
authors.initials: SM
authors.lastname: Soyal
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Dean
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; D016384:Consensus Sequence / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D019281:Dimerization; D004527:Egg Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D005260:Female; D005347:Fibroblasts; D018507:Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental / Q000235:genetics; D005796:Genes / Q000235:genetics; D018257:Helix-Loop-Helix Motifs; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins / Q000235:genetics; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009865:Oocytes / Q000737:chemistry; D009928:Organ Specificity; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA; D051820:TCF Transcription Factors; D058125:Transcription Factor 7-Like 1 Protein; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D015533:Transcriptional Activation / Q000235:genetics*; D015044:Zona Pellucida / Q000737:chemistry / Q000502:physiology*; D000072216:Zona Pellucida Glycoproteins
chemical_list: D051792:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D004527:Egg Proteins; D008562:Membrane Glycoproteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D011956:Receptors, Cell Surface; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D051820:TCF Transcription Factors; D058125:Transcription Factor 7-Like 1 Protein; D014157:Transcription Factors; D000072216:Zona Pellucida Glycoproteins; C109920:Figla protein, mouse; C544913:Tcf7l1 protein, mouse; C000606519:Zp1 protein, mouse; C000606520:Zp2 protein, mouse; C000606521:Zp3 protein, mouse