Turner E E
Department of Psychiatry, University of California at San Diego, La Jolla 92093-0603, USA.
Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1996 Dec 24;93(26):15097-101. doi: 10.1073/pnas.93.26.15097.
The POU-IV or "Brn-3" class of POU-domain transcription factors is represented in Drosophila by I-POU and twin-of-I-POU, alternative splice products of the I-POU gene. I-POU has been previously reported to inhibit DNA binding by the POU-III class factor drifter/Cf1a via the formation of heterodimeric complexes. Here we report that expression of the I-POU/tI-POU message is maximal late in the embryonic phase of Drosophila development, and I-POU is the preferred splice variant. Although I-POU lacks two basic amino acid residues in the POU-homeodomain found in tI-POU and Brn-3.0, these three POU-IV class proteins exhibit very similar DNA-binding specificity. In contrast to previously published reports, the results presented here show no effect of I-POU on DNA binding by drifter, and no evidence for I-POU/drifter dimerization. These results suggest that the I-POU/tI-POU gene products function by transcriptional mechanisms similar to those of the homologous POU-IV class factors expressed in other species, not by unique inhibitory mechanism.
POU-IV 或 “Brn-3” 类 POU 结构域转录因子在果蝇中由 I-POU 和 I-POU 的孪生基因(I-POU 基因的可变剪接产物)代表。先前有报道称,I-POU 通过形成异源二聚体复合物来抑制 POU-III 类因子漂移蛋白/Cf1a 与 DNA 的结合。在此我们报道,I-POU/tI-POU 信息的表达在果蝇发育的胚胎期晚期达到最大值,且 I-POU 是首选的剪接变体。尽管 I-POU 在 tI-POU 和 Brn-3.0 中发现的 POU 同源结构域中缺少两个碱性氨基酸残基,但这三种 POU-IV 类蛋白表现出非常相似的 DNA 结合特异性。与先前发表的报告相反,此处呈现的结果表明 I-POU 对漂移蛋白与 DNA 的结合没有影响,也没有 I-POU/漂移蛋白二聚化的证据。这些结果表明,I-POU/tI-POU 基因产物通过与其他物种中表达的同源 POU-IV 类因子相似的转录机制发挥作用,而非通过独特的抑制机制。