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)

We report the cloning of the transcriptional activator of heat shock genes, HSF, from Drosophila. The predicted sequence of Drosophila HSF protein is surprisingly divergent from that of yeast HSF, except in regions important for DNA binding and oligomerization. A segment of the DNA binding domain of HSF bears an intriguing similarity to the putative DNA recognition helix of bacterial sigma factors, while the oligomerization domain contains an unusual arrangement of conserved hydrophobic heptad repeats. Drosophila HSF produced in E. coli under nonshock conditions forms a hexamer that binds specifically to DNA with high affinity and activates transcription from a heat shock promoter in vitro. In contrast, when HSF is expressed in Xenopus oocytes, maximal DNA binding affinity is observed only after heat shock induction. These results suggest that Drosophila HSF has an intrinsic affinity for DNA, which is repressed under nonshock conditions in vivo.
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PMID:Molecular cloning and expression of a hexameric Drosophila heat shock factor subject to negative regulation. 225 25

Heat shock is a known transcriptional activator of human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV1) long terminal repeat (LTR). However, HIV1 LTR suppression can occur under hyperthermic conditions. To investigate this phenomenon, a series of HIV1 LTR deletion luciferase constructs were generated and tested in cell culture in combination with a mutant heat shock factor 1 (HSF1+), which is transcriptionally active in the absence of heat stress. HSF1+ suppressed the activity of a minimal HIV1 LTR promoter, which contained NF-kappaB, Sp1, and tat consensus sequences. Electromobility shift assays showed nuclear protein-DNA complex formation with a Sp1 consensus sequence. Immunoprecipitation of nuclear extracts with Sp1 antibody did not affect nuclear protein-Sp1 oligonucleotide complex formation. In contrast, no complexes were formed with the Sp1 consensus sequence when the HSF protein was immunoprecipitated. These experiments indicate that modified heat shock factor can suppress HIV1 promoter activity by a mechanism involving interaction with Sp1 elements in the HIV1 promoter. The ability of HSF1+ to suppress HIV1 promoter activity suggests that HSF1+ could serve as a tool for the treatment of AIDS.
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PMID:Regulation of the HIV1 long terminal repeat by mutant heat shock factor. 1287 54