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Molecular and Cellular Biology, December 1999, p. 8492-8504, Vol. 19, No. 12
Laboratory of Molecular Endocrinology,
Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, and Howard
Hughes Medical Institute, Boston, Massachusetts
021141; Genetics Institute, Cambridge,
Massachusetts 021402; and
Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Medicine, University of
Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China3
Received 7 June 1999/Returned for modification 20 July
1999/Accepted 3 September 1999
Proteins in the E2A family of basic helix-loop-helix transcription
factors are important in a wide spectrum of physiologic processes as
diverse as neurogenesis, myogenesis, lymphopoeisis, and sex
determination. In the pancreatic
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Bridge-1, a Novel PDZ-Domain Coactivator of
E2A-Mediated Regulation of Insulin Gene Transcription
cell, E2A proteins, in combination
with tissue-specific transcription factors, regulate expression of the
insulin gene and other genes critical for
-cell function. By yeast
two-hybrid screening of a cDNA library prepared from rat insulinoma
(INS-1) cells, we identified a novel protein, Bridge-1, that interacts
with E2A proteins and functions as a coactivator of gene transcription
mediated by E12 and E47. Bridge-1 contains a PDZ-like domain, a domain
known to be involved in protein-protein interactions. Bridge-1 is
highly expressed in pancreatic islets and islet cell lines and the
expression pattern is primarily nuclear. The interaction of Bridge-1
with E2A proteins is further demonstrated by coimmunoprecipitation of
in vitro-translated Bridge-1 with E12 or E47 and by mammalian
two-hybrid studies. The PDZ-like domain of Bridge-1 is required for
interaction with the carboxy terminus of E12. In both yeast and
mammalian two-hybrid interaction studies, Bridge-1 mutants lacking an
intact PDZ-like domain interact poorly with E12. An E12 mutant
(E12
C) lacking the carboxy-terminal nine amino acids shows impaired
interaction with Bridge-1. Bridge-1 has direct transactivational
activity, since a Gal4 DNA-binding domain-Bridge-1 fusion protein
transactivates a Gal4CAT reporter. Bridge-1 also functions as a
coactivator by enhancing E12- or E47-mediated activation of a rat
insulin I gene minienhancer promoter-reporter construct in
transient-transfection experiments. Substitution of the mutant E12
C
for E12 reduces the coactivation of the rat insulin I minienhancer by
Bridge-1. Inactivation of endogenous Bridge-1 in insulinoma (INS-1)
cells by expression of a Bridge-1 antisense RNA diminishes rat insulin
I promoter activity. Bridge-1, by utilizing its PDZ-like domain to
interact with E12, may provide a new mechanism for the coactivation and
regulation of transcription of the insulin gene.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Laboratory
of Molecular Endocrinology, Massachusetts General Hospital, 55 Fruit
St.-WEL320, Boston, MA 02114. Phone: (617) 726-5190. Fax: (617)
726-6954. E-mail: jhabener{at}partners.org.
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