title: Highly cooperative homodimerization is a conserved property of neural POU proteins.
abstract: POU-domain proteins have been shown to play important roles in the development of the nervous, endocrine, and immune systems. However, the distinctive DNA recognition properties of the six major POU subclasses have not been well defined. Here, we have used random oligonucleotide selection and competitive binding assays to determine the optimal DNA recognition elements for the POU-III and POU-VI protein classes, represented by Brn-2 and Brn-5, respectively. The optimal Brn-5 consensus binding sequence GCATAA(T/A)TTAT strongly resembles that previously determined for the POU-IV (Brn-3) class, whereas Brn-2 exhibits highest affinity for non-octamer sites of the form ATG(A/C)AT(A/T)0-2ATTNAT and for octamer sites that contain a full associated heptamer sequence. Brn-2, Brn-3.0, and their invertebrate homologues all exhibit highly cooperative homodimerization on the Brn-2 consensus sequence, demonstrating that cooperative dimerization is a general property of these neural POU proteins. However, modified sites to which Brn-2 binds only as a monomer mediate the transcriptional effects of Brn-2 better than the consensus sequence, demonstrating that dimerization on these sites diminishes the transactivation ability of the protein. Together with the findings of our prior studies these data greatly facilitate the identification of functional POU recognition elements in the regulatory regions of neural genes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychiatry, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0603, USA.
authors.forename: J M
authors.initials: JM
authors.lastname: Rhee
authors.forename: C A
authors.initials: CA
authors.lastname: Gruber
authors.forename: T B
authors.initials: TB
authors.lastname: Brodie
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Trieu
authors.forename: E E
authors.initials: EE
authors.lastname: Turner
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001667:Binding, Competitive; D016384:Consensus Sequence; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D019281:Dimerization; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D007700:Kinetics; D051379:Mice; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism*; D050809:POU Domain Factors; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D013379:Substrate Specificity; D050818:Transcription Factor Brn-3; D050819:Transcription Factor Brn-3A; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D018398:Homeodomain Proteins; D009419:Nerve Tissue Proteins; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D050809:POU Domain Factors; C494189:Pou4f1 protein, mouse; C489996:Pou6f1 protein, mouse; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D050818:Transcription Factor Brn-3; D050819:Transcription Factor Brn-3A; D014157:Transcription Factors; C085076:transcription factor Brn-2