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Mol Cell Biol, April 1998, p. 1866-1878, Vol. 18, No. 4
0270-7306/98/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1998, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Rex-1, a Gene Encoding a Transcription Factor Expressed in the Early Embryo, Is Regulated via Oct-3/4 and Oct-6 Binding to an Octamer Site and a Novel Protein, Rox-1, Binding to an Adjacent Site

Etti Ben-Shushan,1 James R. Thompson,2 Lorraine J. Gudas,2 and Yehudit Bergman1,*

Hubert H. Humphrey Center for Experimental Medicine and Cancer Research, The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem 91120, Israel,1 and Department of Pharmacology, Cornell University Medical College, New York, New York 100212

Received 7 April 1997/Returned for modification 29 May 1997/Accepted 6 January 1998

The Rex-1 (Zfp-42) gene, which encodes an acidic zinc finger protein, is expressed at high levels in embryonic stem (ES) and F9 teratocarcinoma cells. Prior analysis identified an octamer motif in the Rex-1 promoter which is required for promoter activity in undifferentiated F9 cells and is involved in retinoic acid (RA)-associated reduction in expression. We show here that the Oct-3/4 transcription factor, but not Oct-1, can either activate or repress the Rex-1 promoter, depending on the cellular environment. Rex-1 repression is enhanced by E1A. The protein domain required for Oct-3/4 activation was mapped to amino acids 1 to 35, whereas the domain required for Oct-3/4 repression was mapped to amino acids 61 to 126, suggesting that the molecular mechanisms underlying transcriptional activation and repression differ. Like Oct-3/4, Oct-6 can also lower the expression of the Rex-1 promoter via the octamer site, and the amino-terminal portion of Oct-6 mediates this repression. In addition to the octamer motif, a novel positive regulatory element, located immediately 5' of the octamer motif, was identified in the Rex-1 promoter. Mutations in this element greatly reduce Rex-1 promoter activity in F9 cells. High levels of a binding protein(s), designated Rox-1, recognize this novel DNA element in F9 cells, and this binding activity is reduced following RA treatment. Taken together, these results indicate that the Rex-1 promoter is regulated by specific octamer family members in early embryonic cells and that a novel element also contributes to Rex-1 expression.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: P.O. Box 12272, The Hebrew University-Hadassah Medical School, Jerusalem 91120, Israel. Phone: 972 2 6758362. Fax: 972 2 6414583. E-mail: yberg{at}md2.huji.ac.il.




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