title: GATA zinc finger interactions modulate DNA binding and transactivation.
abstract: GATA-1 and other vertebrate GATA factors contain a DNA binding domain composed of two adjacent homologous zinc fingers. Whereas only the C-terminal finger of GATA-1 is capable of independent binding to the GATA recognition sequence, double GATA sites that require both fingers for high affinity interaction are found in several genes. We propose a mechanism whereby adjacent zinc fingers interact to influence the binding and transactivation properties of GATA-1 at a subset of DNA-binding sites. By using two such double GATA sites we demonstrate that the N-terminal finger and adjacent linker region can alter the binding specificity of the C-terminal finger sufficiently to prevent it from recognizing some consensus GATA sequences. Therefore, the two zinc fingers form a composite binding domain having a different DNA binding specificity from that shown by the constituent single C-terminal finger. Furthermore, we compare two of these double sites and show that high affinity binding of GATA-1 to a reporter gene does not necessarily induce transactivation, namely the sequence of the DNA-binding site can alter the ability of GATA-1 to stimulate transcription.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Biology, NIDDKD, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Maryland 20892, USA.
authors.forename: C D
authors.initials: CD
authors.lastname: Trainor
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Ghirlando
authors.forename: M A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Simpson
mesh_terms: D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D002645:Chickens; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004247:DNA / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D050981:Erythroid-Specific DNA-Binding Factors; D004926:Escherichia coli; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D050982:GATA1 Transcription Factor; D006801:Humans; D058619:Maltose-Binding Proteins; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009004:Monosaccharide Transport Proteins; D011487:Protein Conformation; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D015533:Transcriptional Activation; D014162:Transfection; D014714:Vertebrates; D016335:Zinc Fingers
chemical_list: D018528:ATP-Binding Cassette Transporters; D002352:Carrier Proteins; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D050981:Erythroid-Specific DNA-Binding Factors; D029968:Escherichia coli Proteins; D050982:GATA1 Transcription Factor; C494688:GATA1 protein, human; D058619:Maltose-Binding Proteins; D009004:Monosaccharide Transport Proteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; C461599:maltose transport system, E coli; D004247:DNA