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A binding site for germ cell nuclear factor within c‐ mos regulatory sequences
Author(s) -
Zilz Alexandra,
Cooper Geoffrey M.
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
molecular reproduction and development
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.745
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1098-2795
pISSN - 1040-452X
DOI - 10.1002/mrd.20006
Subject(s) - biology , germ cell , microbiology and biotechnology , transcription factor , binding site , genetics , computational biology , evolutionary biology , gene
The proto‐oncogene c‐ mos is specifically expressed in male and female germ cells. Previous studies have shown that the orphan nuclear receptor chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter transcription factor (COUP‐TF) contributes to the repression of c‐ mos in somatic cells by binding to an inverted hexamer repeat within the c‐ mos regulatory region. In the present study, we demonstrate that another nuclear receptor superfamily member, germ cell nuclear factor (GCNF), binds to a sequence overlapping the c‐ mos COUP‐TF binding site. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays with recombinant GCNF and both wild‐type and mutant c‐ mos oligonucleotides demonstrated the binding of GCNF to an extended half site, CCAAGTTCA, which overlaps the first hexamer of the COUP‐TF binding site. Transient transfection assays in NIH 3T3 cells further demonstrated that GCNF fused to a VP16 activation domain stimulated transcription from reporter constructs containing the c‐ mos GCNF binding site. Since GCNF is expressed in male and female germ cells at the same stages of development at which c‐ mos is transcribed, these results suggest that GCNF may serve as a regulator of c‐ mos transcription. Mol. Reprod. Dev. 67: 55–64, 2004. © 2004 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.