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Molecular and Cellular Biology, January 1999, p. 107-120, Vol. 19, No. 1
0270-7306/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Mechanism of Regulatory Target Selection by the SOX High-Mobility-Group Domain Proteins as Revealed by Comparison of SOX1/2/3 and SOX9

Yusuke Kamachi,1 Kathryn S. E. Cheah,2 and Hisato Kondoh1,*

Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology, Osaka University, Osaka 565-0871, Japan,1 and Department of Biochemistry, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China2

Received 17 July 1998/Returned for modification 29 September 1998/Accepted 14 October 1998

SOX proteins bind similar DNA motifs through their high-mobility-group (HMG) domains, but their action is highly specific with respect to target genes and cell type. We investigated the mechanism of target selection by comparing SOX1/2/3, which activate delta -crystallin minimal enhancer DC5, with SOX9, which activates Col2a1 minimal enhancer COL2C2. These enhancers depend on both the SOX binding site and the binding site of a putative partner factor. The DC5 site was equally bound and bent by the HMG domains of SOX1/2 and SOX9. The activation domains of these SOX proteins mapped at the distal portions of the C-terminal domains were not cell specific and were independent of the partner factor. Chimeric proteins produced between SOX1 and SOX9 showed that to activate the DC5 enhancer, the C-terminal domain must be that of SOX1, although the HMG domains were replaceable. The SOX2-VP16 fusion protein, in which the activation domain of SOX2 was replaced by that of VP16, activated the DC5 enhancer still in a partner factor-dependent manner. The results argue that the proximal portion of the C-terminal domain of SOX1/2 specifically interacts with the partner factor, and this interaction determines the specificity of the SOX1/2 action. Essentially the same results were obtained in the converse experiments in which COL2C2 activation by SOX9 was analyzed, except that specificity of SOX9-partner factor interaction also involved the SOX9 HMG domain. The highly selective SOX-partner factor interactions presumably stabilize the DNA binding of the SOX proteins and provide the mechanism for regulatory target selection.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Institute for Molecular and Cellular Biology, Osaka University, Yamadaoka 1-3, Suitashi, Osaka 565-0871, Japan. Phone: 81-6-879-7963. Fax: 81-6-877-1738. E-mail: j61056{at}center.osaka-u.ac.jp.

Molecular and Cellular Biology, January 1999, p. 107-120, Vol. 19, No. 1
0270-7306/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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