Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UNIPROT:P51532 (transcriptional activator)
 6,546 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Although I kappa B is a cytoplasmic inhibitor of NF-kappa B and c-Rel that prevents nuclear translocation of NF-kappa B, some forms of I kappa B have been found in the nucleus. Given that some other proteins with ankyrin-type repeats are transcription factors, we wondered if a nuclear form of I kappa B alpha could itself be a transcriptional activator. We found that Gal4-I kappa B alpha fusion proteins strongly transactivate a Gal4 site-containing promoter in 3T3 fibroblasts. The I kappa B alpha domain responsible for this transactivation is not the acidic domain of I kappa B alpha, but the ankyrin repeat domain which is responsible for protein-protein interactions. To enhance our ability to detect cellular I kappa B alpha by immunofluorescence, we overexpressed the protein in transfected cells, and found that overexpressed I kappa B alpha is largely cytoplasmic in serum-deprived cells, but nuclear in serum-stimulated cells. However, in cell fractionation studies under all treatment conditions, I kappa B alpha appears mainly in cytoplasmic fractions, suggesting that it can rapidly move out of the nucleus through nuclear pores during extract preparation. Using double antibody immunoprecipitations, we found that I kappa B alpha in proliferating cells is strongly associated with RelA(p65). When I kappa B alpha is fused to the Gal4 DNA-binding domain, nuclear Gal4-I kappa B alpha is associated with RelA(p65). Thus, the activation domain of the associated RelA(p65) molecule could account for the ability of Gal4-I kappa B alpha to transactivate the Gal4 promoter. Unlike Bcl-3, an I kappa B which has been recently shown to directly transactivate through kappa B sites when associated with NFKB2 (p52), I kappa B alpha shows no ability to directly transactivate target promoters via its association with RelA(p65).
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PMID:I kappa B alpha can localize in the nucleus but shows no direct transactivation potential. 836 66

Inducible gene expression in eukaryotes is mainly controlled by the activity of transcriptional activator proteins, such as NF-kappa B (refs 1-3), a factor activated upon treatment of cells with phorbol esters, lipopolysaccharide, interleukin-1 and tumour necrosis factor-alpha. Activation of NF-kappa B involves release of the inhibitory subunit I kappa B from a cytoplasmic complex with the DNA-binding subunits Rel-A (formerly p65) and p50 (refs 6, 7). Cell-free experiments have suggested that protein kinase C and other kinases transfer phosphoryl groups onto I kappa B causing release of I kappa B and subsequent activation of NF-kappa B. Here we report that I kappa B-alpha (formerly MAD-3) is degraded in cells after stimulation with phorbol ester, interleukin-1, lipopolysaccharide and tumour necrosis factor-alpha, an event coincident with the appearance of active NF-kappa B. Treatment of cells with various protease inhibitors or an antioxidant completely prevented the inducible decay of I kappa B-alpha as well as the activation of NF-kappa B. Our findings suggest that the activation of NF-kappa B relies on an inducible degradation of I kappa B-alpha through a cytoplasmic, chymotrypsin-like protease. In intact cells, phosphorylation of I kappa B-alpha is apparently not sufficient for activation of NF-kappa B.
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PMID:Rapid proteolysis of I kappa B-alpha is necessary for activation of transcription factor NF-kappa B. 837 61

The NF-kappa B transcription factor complex is composed of a 50-kDa (p50) and a 65-kDa (p65) subunit. Both subunits bind to similar DNA motifs and elicit transcriptional activation as either homo- or heterodimers. By using chimeric proteins that contain the DNA binding domain of the yeast transcriptional activator GAL4 and subdomains of p65, three distinct transcriptional activation domains were identified. One domain was localized to a region of 42 amino acids containing a potential leucin zipper structure, consistent with earlier reports. Two other domains, both acidic and rich in prolines, were also identified. Of perhaps more significance, the same minimal activation domains that were functional in mammalian cells were also functional in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Coexpression of the NF-kappa B inhibitory molecule, I kappa B, reduced the transcriptional activity of p65 significantly, suggesting the ability of I kappa B to function in a similar manner in S. cerevisiae. Surprisingly, while the conserved rel homology domain of p65 demonstrated no transcriptional activity in either mammalian cells or S. cerevisiae, the corresponding domain in p50 was a strong transcriptional activator in S. cerevisiae. The observation that similar domains elicit transcriptional activation in mammalian cells and S. cerevisiae demonstrates strong conservation of the transcriptional machinery required for NF-kappa B function and provides a powerful genetic system to study the transcriptional mechanisms of these proteins.
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PMID:Conservation of transcriptional activation functions of the NF-kappa B p50 and p65 subunits in mammalian cells and Saccharomyces cerevisiae. 844 4

The transactivator HTLV-I Tax activates the promoter of the gene coding for the interleukin 2 alpha-chain receptor (IL-2R alpha) via a kappa B site that can bind several protein species of the rel family. Tax1 strongly activates the enhancer activity of this motif, in both epithelial HeLa and lymphoid Jurkat cells. This activation was not observed in undifferentiated embryocarcinoma F9 cells. Overexpression of the p50, p65 and Rel proteins in these cells showed that significant activation of the IL-2R alpha kappa B site was observed only with Rel and Rel plus p65. Moreover, whereas both Tax and phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) are able to efficiently induce the binding of NF-kappa B to the IL-2R alpha kappa B site, PMA is functionally inactive. Using the DNA affinity precipitation assay, we observed that Tax1 is able to efficiently induce the binding of Rel, whereas PMA is not. This established a clear difference between both stimuli, indicating that Rel is the functionally active factor. We conclude from these results that the functional activity of members of the rel family is regulated by their interaction with DNA and that Rel can be a potent transcriptional activator on specific kappa B sites.
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PMID:The transcriptionally active factors mediating the effect of the HTLV-I Tax transactivator on the IL-2R alpha kappa B enhancer include the product of the c-rel proto-oncogene. 845 41

NF-kappa B is a potent inducible transcription factor that regulates many genes in activated T cells. In this report we examined the ability of different subunits of NF-kappa B to enhance HIV-1 transcription in vitro with chromatin templates. We find that the p65 subunit of NF-kappa B is a strong transcriptional activator of nucleosome-assembled HIV-1 DNA, whereas p50 does not activate transcription, and that p65 activates transcription synergistically with Sp1 and distal HIV-1 enhancer-binding factors (LEF-1, Ets-1, and TFE-3). These effects were observed with chromatin, but not with nonchromatin templates. Furthermore, binding of either p50 or p65 with Sp1 induces rearrangement of the chromatin to a structure that resembles the one reported previously for integrated HIV-1 proviral DNA in vivo. These results suggest that p50 and Sp1 contribute to the establishment of the nucleosomal arrangement of the uninduced provirus in resting T cells, and that p65 activates transcription by recruitment of the RNA polymerase II transcriptional machinery to the chromatin-repressed basal promoter.
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PMID:NF-kappa B-mediated chromatin reconfiguration and transcriptional activation of the HIV-1 enhancer in vitro. 855 93

NF-kappa B is a potent transcriptional activator that resides in latent form in the cytoplasm complexed to its inhibitor I kappa B. Phosphorylation of I kappa B by protein kinase C (PKC) releases NF-kappa B, enabling its translocation to the nucleus. Since PKC can activate NF-kappa B and PKC is activated by long-term potentiation (LTP), we investigated NF-kappa B expression after hippocampal LTP induced in vivo. We first described the expression of the NF-kappa B subunits, p50 and p65, and I kappa B alpha mRNAs, in each cell field of the hippocampus. In other brain locations I kappa B alpha mRNA exhibited a more selective expression than p50 and p65. We then demonstrated specific NF-kappa B-like DNA-binding activity in hippocampal whole-cell extracts and in synaptosomes using electrophoretic mobility shift assays by the following criteria: (1) latent binding was revealed after deoxycholate treatment; (2) binding was competed off by unlabeled kappa B oligonucleotides; and (3) antibodies to either p50 or p65 blocked binding. Since p50 gene expression is auto-regulated by NF-kappa B, we used its expression as a reporter for NF-kappa B activity using quantitative in situ hybridization. Both p50 and p65 increased their expression in response to either LTP-inducing or low-frequency control stimulation, although the increase in p65 mRNA levels was greater after LTP than control stimulation. In contrast to p50 and p65, I kappa B alpha hybridization levels were not increased, but were inversely correlated with the magnitude of LTP. Since NF-kappa B subunit gene expression in the hippocampus is increased by augmented synaptic activity, NF-kappa B activation may contribute to alterations in target gene expression that accompany activity-dependent synaptic plasticity, but only in a combinatorial fashion with other transcription factors.
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PMID:Gene expression of the transcription factor NF-kappa B in hippocampus: regulation by synaptic activity. 879 6

The complex network of cytokines that are involved in inflammatory and immunoregulatory responses plays a critical role in the pathogenesis of HIV infection. RANTES (regulated upon activation, normal T cell expressed and secreted) is a cytokine that belongs to the beta-chemokine family; it is chemoattractant for CD4+/CD45RO T cells, it is produced by various cell types including CD8+ and CD4+ T cells as well as monocytes/macrophages, and has recently been shown to suppress replication of macrophage-tropic strains of HIV in CD4+ T cells. To investigate the molecular mechanisms of RANTES expression, the RANTES promoter region was analyzed by transient expression and gel-mobility shift assays. We demonstrate that: 1) RANTES promoter activity is up-regulated by PMA plus ionomycin, coexpression of the p65 subunit of nuclear factor (NF)-kappa B, the proinflammatory cytokines TNF-alpha and IL-1 beta, and the CD28 costimulatory pathway; 2) the RANTES promoter region contains four NF-kappa B binding sites at positions -30, -44, -213, and -579 relative to the transcription start site; 3) one site (-213) is an NF-AT (nuclear factor of activated T cells) binding site that also has weak affinity to NF-kappa B, and the most distal site (-579) also serves as a CD28-responsive element; and 4) mutation on any of those NF-kappa B sites or coexpression of I kappa B alpha (cytoplasmic inhibitor of NF-kappa B) markedly reduced the promoter activity. Thus, NF-kappa B, a potent transcriptional activator of HIV expression, is also involved in the expression of RANTES, a chemokine that blocks infection by macrophage-tropic strains of HIV.
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PMID:Nuclear factor-kappa B potently up-regulates the promoter activity of RANTES, a chemokine that blocks HIV infection. 912 Mar 10

NF-kappa B is a ubiquitous transcription factor that contributes to the induction of many genes playing a central role in immune and inflammatory responses. The NF-kappa B proteins are subject to multiple regulatory influences including post-translational modifications such as phosphorylation and proteolytic processing. A very important component of this regulation is the control of their subcellular localization: cytoplasmic retention of NF-kappa B is achieved through interaction with I kappa B molecules. In response to extracellular signals, these molecules undergo degradation, NF-kappa B translocates to the nucleus and activates its target genes. To investigate novel proteins involved in this dynamic response, we have reconstituted the NF-kappa B/I kappa Beta system in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We have successively introduced p65, the main transcriptional activator of the NF-kappa B family, which leads to the activation of two reporter genes controlled by kappa B sites, and the I kappa B alpha inhibitory protein, which abolishes this activation. By transforming such a yeast strain with a cDNA library we have performed a genetic screen for cDNAs encoding proteins capable of either dissociating the p65/I kappa B alpha complex or directly transactivating the expression of the reporter genes. The efficiency of our screen was demonstrated by the isolation of a cDNA encoding the p105 precursor of the p50 subunit of NF-kappa B. We also used this system to test stimuli known to activate signalling pathways in yeast, in order to investigate whether the related mammalian cascades might be involved in NF-kappa B activation. We showed that yeast endogenous kinase cascades activated by pheromone, hypo- or hyperosmotic shock cannot modulate NF-kappa B activity in our system, and that the p38 human MAP kinase does not act directly on the p65/I kappa B alpha complex.
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PMID:Reconstitution of the NF-kappa B system in Saccharomyces cerevisiae for isolation of effectors by phenotype modulation. 920 Aug 10

We have shown previously that the heavy metal-responsive transcriptional activator MTF-1 regulates the basal and heavy metal-induced expression of metallothioneins. To investigate the physiological function of MTF-1, we generated null mutant mice by targeted gene disruption. Embryos lacking MTF-1 die in utero at approximately day 14 of gestation. They show impaired development of hepatocytes and, at later stages, liver decay and generalized edema. MTF-1(-/-) embryos fail to transcribe metallothionein I and II genes, and also show diminished transcripts of the gene which encodes the heavy-chain subunit of the gamma-glutamylcysteine synthetase, a key enzyme for glutathione biosynthesis. Metallothionein and glutathione are involved in heavy metal homeostasis and detoxification processes, such as scavenging reactive oxygen intermediates. Accordingly, primary mouse embryo fibroblasts lacking MTF-1 show increased susceptibility to the cytotoxic effects of cadmium or hydrogen peroxide. Thus, MTF-1 may help to control metal homeostasis and probably cellular redox state, especially during liver development. We also note that the MTF-1 null mutant phenotype bears some similarity to those of two other regulators of cellular stress response, namely c-Jun and NF-kappaB (p65/RelA).
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PMID:Embryonic lethality and liver degeneration in mice lacking the metal-responsive transcriptional activator MTF-1. 958 78

A functional interferon-beta gene enhanceosome was assembled in vitro using the purified recombinant transcriptional activator proteins ATF2/c-JUN, IRF1, and p50/p65 of NF-kappa B. Maximal levels of transcriptional synergy between these activators required the specific interactions with the architectural protein HMG I(Y) and the correct helical phasing of the binding sites of these proteins on the DNA helix. Analyses of the in vitro assembled enhanceosome revealed that the transcriptional synergy is due, at least in part, to the cooperative assembly and stability of the complex. Reconstitution experiments showed that the formation of a stable enhanceosome-dependent preinitiation complex require cooperative interactions between the enhanceosome; the general transcription factors TFID, TFIIA, and TFIIB; and the cofactor USA. These studies provide a direct biochemical demonstration of the importance of the structure and function of natural multicomponent transcriptional enhancer complexes in gene regulation.
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PMID:The mechanism of transcriptional synergy of an in vitro assembled interferon-beta enhanceosome. 965 9


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