Open AccessDistinct roles for the two cGATA-1 finger domains.
Author(s) -
Heng-Yin Yang,
Todd Evans
Publication year - 1992
Publication title -
molecular and cellular biology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 2.14
H-Index - 327
eISSN - 1067-8824
pISSN - 0270-7306
DOI - 10.1128/mcb.12.10.4562
Subject(s) - biology , ring finger domain , phd finger , zinc finger , dna binding protein , lim domain , transcription factor , genetics , dna , gene , dna binding domain , microbiology and biotechnology , mutation , plasma protein binding
We have generated and analyzed by functional assays mutations of the chicken erythroid transcription factor GATA-1. The cGATA-1 protein contains two related finger domains highly conserved across species and characteristic of the family of GATA-binding factors. We find that mutations in the C-terminal finger or adjacent basic region abolish sequence-specific DNA binding, confirming that this region constitutes a novel DNA-binding domain sufficient to recognize the consensus WGATAR motif. At least three separate regions outside of this finger II domain contribute in a cooperative manner to the trans-activation potential of the protein. As expected from previous results analyzing the mouse homolog, we find that the N-terminal finger plays a role in DNA binding by affecting the stability of the DNA-protein complex. In addition, we find mutations of finger I subtly altered in DNA-binding function which greatly diminish trans-activation. Our results support the notion that the GATA-1 protein must be positioned precisely on the GATA cis element to enable the activation of target genes.