title: Characterization of the mouse gene for the heavy metal-responsive transcription factor MTF-1.
abstract: MTF-1 is a zinc finger transcription factor that mediates the cellular response to heavy metal stress; its targeted disruption in the mouse leads to liver decay and embryonic lethality at day E14. Recently, we have sequenced the entire MTF-1 gene in the compact genome of the pufferfish Fugu rubripes. Here we have defined the promoter sequences of human and mouse MTF-1 and the genomic structure of the mouse MTF-1 locus. The transcription unit of MTF-1 spans 42 kb (compared to 8.5 kb in Fugu) and is located downstream of the gene for a phosphatase (INPP5P) in mouse, human, and fish. In all of these species, the MTF promoter region has the features of a CpG island. In both mouse and human, the 5' untranslated region harbors conserved short reading frames of unknown function. RNA mapping experiments revealed that in these two species, MTF-1 mRNA is transcribed from a cluster of multiple initiation sites from a TATA-less promoter without metal-responsive elements. Transcription from endogenous and transfected MTF-1 promoters was not affected by heavy metal load or other stressors, in support of the notion that MTF-1 activity is regulated at the posttranscriptional level. Tissue Northern blots normalized for poly A+ RNA indicate that MTF-1 is expressed at similar levels in all tissues, except in the testes, that contain more than 10-fold higher mRNA levels.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Molecular Biology, University of Zürich, Switzerland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Auf der Maur
authors.forename: T
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Belser
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Günes
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lichtlen
authors.forename: O
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Georgiev
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Schaffner
mesh_terms: D020121:5' Untranslated Regions / Q000235:genetics; D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D018899:CpG Islands / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D005347:Fibroblasts; D005399:Fishes / Q000235:genetics*; D015870:Gene Expression; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D015032:Zinc / Q000378:metabolism*; D016335:Zinc Fingers / Q000235:genetics; D000097809:Transcription Factor MTF-1
chemical_list: D020121:5' Untranslated Regions; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D015032:Zinc; D000097809:Transcription Factor MTF-1