Skip to main content
NCBI home page
Nucleic Acids Research logoLink to Nucleic Acids Research
. 1993 May 11;21(9):2157–2163. doi: 10.1093/nar/21.9.2157

GAL4-I kappa B alpha and GAL4-I kappa B gamma activate transcription by different mechanisms.

P J Morin 1, G S Subramanian 1, T D Gilmore 1
PMCID: PMC309479  PMID: 8502557

Abstract

I kappa B proteins regulate Rel/NF-kappa B transcription complexes through a direct protein-protein interaction. In addition, we have previously shown that certain I kappa B proteins (I kappa B alpha and I kappa B gamma) can act as activators of transcription when fused to the DNA-binding domain of GAL4. We now show that a mutant chicken I kappa B alpha protein that cannot interact with Rel proteins in vitro did not activate transcription when fused to GAL4 in chicken embryo fibroblasts (CEF) and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and did not inhibit growth in yeast; in contrast, an I kappa B alpha mutant that can still interact in vitro with Rel proteins activated transcription in both CEF and yeast and inhibited growth in yeast. In CEF, GAL4-I kappa B alpha mediated transcription activation was inhibited by co-transfection with an expression vector for a RelA (p65) protein that contained sequences needed for interaction with I kappa B alpha but that was deleted of its transcription activation domain. Therefore, it appears that GAL4-I kappa B alpha activates transcription by interacting with an endogenous Rel family protein in CEF. In contrast, the activation domain from I kappa B gamma behaved as a genuine acidic activator of transcription and did not inhibit growth when expressed in yeast. Since transcription activation and growth inhibition by GAL4-I kappa B alpha mutants in yeast correlated with their ability to interact with vertebrate Rel proteins, our results suggest that these activities of GAL4-I kappa B alpha are mediated through interaction with a Rel-like protein in yeast, which is important for cell growth.

Full text

PDF
2157

Images in this article

2159Image
on p.2159
2161Image
on p.2161

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Baeuerle P. A. The inducible transcription activator NF-kappa B: regulation by distinct protein subunits. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1991 Apr 16;1072(1):63–80. doi: 10.1016/0304-419x(91)90007-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Ballard D. W., Dixon E. P., Peffer N. J., Bogerd H., Doerre S., Stein B., Greene W. C. The 65-kDa subunit of human NF-kappa B functions as a potent transcriptional activator and a target for v-Rel-mediated repression. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1992 Mar 1;89(5):1875–1879. doi: 10.1073/pnas.89.5.1875. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Beg A. A., Ruben S. M., Scheinman R. I., Haskill S., Rosen C. A., Baldwin A. S., Jr I kappa B interacts with the nuclear localization sequences of the subunits of NF-kappa B: a mechanism for cytoplasmic retention. Genes Dev. 1992 Oct;6(10):1899–1913. doi: 10.1101/gad.6.10.1899. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bischoff J. R., Casso D., Beach D. Human p53 inhibits growth in Schizosaccharomyces pombe. Mol Cell Biol. 1992 Apr;12(4):1405–1411. doi: 10.1128/mcb.12.4.1405. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Blank V., Kourilsky P., Israël A. NF-kappa B and related proteins: Rel/dorsal homologies meet ankyrin-like repeats. Trends Biochem Sci. 1992 Apr;17(4):135–140. doi: 10.1016/0968-0004(92)90321-y. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Bose H. R., Jr The Rel family: models for transcriptional regulation and oncogenic transformation. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1992 Sep 14;1114(1):1–17. doi: 10.1016/0304-419x(92)90002-g. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Bours V., Franzoso G., Azarenko V., Park S., Kanno T., Brown K., Siebenlist U. The oncoprotein Bcl-3 directly transactivates through kappa B motifs via association with DNA-binding p50B homodimers. Cell. 1993 Mar 12;72(5):729–739. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(93)90401-b. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Breeden L., Nasmyth K. Similarity between cell-cycle genes of budding yeast and fission yeast and the Notch gene of Drosophila. Nature. 1987 Oct 15;329(6140):651–654. doi: 10.1038/329651a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Capobianco A. J., Chang D., Mosialos G., Gilmore T. D. p105, the NF-kappa B p50 precursor protein, is one of the cellular proteins complexed with the v-Rel oncoprotein in transformed chicken spleen cells. J Virol. 1992 Jun;66(6):3758–3767. doi: 10.1128/jvi.66.6.3758-3767.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Capobianco A. J., Gilmore T. D. Repression of the chicken c-rel promoter by vRel in chicken embryo fibroblasts is not mediated through a consensus NF-kappa B binding site. Oncogene. 1991 Dec;6(12):2203–2210. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Capobianco A. J., Simmons D. L., Gilmore T. D. Cloning and expression of a chicken c-rel cDNA: unlike p59v-rel, p68c-rel is a cytoplasmic protein in chicken embryo fibroblasts. Oncogene. 1990 Mar;5(3):257–265. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Davis N., Ghosh S., Simmons D. L., Tempst P., Liou H. C., Baltimore D., Bose H. R., Jr Rel-associated pp40: an inhibitor of the rel family of transcription factors. Science. 1991 Sep 13;253(5025):1268–1271. doi: 10.1126/science.1891714. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Dougherty J. P., Temin H. M. High mutation rate of a spleen necrosis virus-based retrovirus vector. Mol Cell Biol. 1986 Dec;6(12):4387–4395. doi: 10.1128/mcb.6.12.4387. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Fields S., Song O. A novel genetic system to detect protein-protein interactions. Nature. 1989 Jul 20;340(6230):245–246. doi: 10.1038/340245a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Franzoso G., Bours V., Park S., Tomita-Yamaguchi M., Kelly K., Siebenlist U. The candidate oncoprotein Bcl-3 is an antagonist of p50/NF-kappa B-mediated inhibition. Nature. 1992 Sep 24;359(6393):339–342. doi: 10.1038/359339a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Geisler R., Bergmann A., Hiromi Y., Nüsslein-Volhard C. cactus, a gene involved in dorsoventral pattern formation of Drosophila, is related to the I kappa B gene family of vertebrates. Cell. 1992 Nov 13;71(4):613–621. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(92)90595-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Gilmore T. D. NF-kappa B, KBF1, dorsal, and related matters. Cell. 1990 Sep 7;62(5):841–843. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90257-f. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Gilmore T. D. Role of rel family genes in normal and malignant lymphoid cell growth. Cancer Surv. 1992;15:69–87. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Haskill S., Beg A. A., Tompkins S. M., Morris J. S., Yurochko A. D., Sampson-Johannes A., Mondal K., Ralph P., Baldwin A. S., Jr Characterization of an immediate-early gene induced in adherent monocytes that encodes I kappa B-like activity. Cell. 1991 Jun 28;65(7):1281–1289. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90022-q. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Inoue J., Kerr L. D., Kakizuka A., Verma I. M. I kappa B gamma, a 70 kd protein identical to the C-terminal half of p110 NF-kappa B: a new member of the I kappa B family. Cell. 1992 Mar 20;68(6):1109–1120. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(92)90082-n. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Inoue J., Kerr L. D., Rashid D., Davis N., Bose H. R., Jr, Verma I. M. Direct association of pp40/I kappa B beta with rel/NF-kappa B transcription factors: role of ankyrin repeats in the inhibition of DNA binding activity. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1992 May 15;89(10):4333–4337. doi: 10.1073/pnas.89.10.4333. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Ito H., Fukuda Y., Murata K., Kimura A. Transformation of intact yeast cells treated with alkali cations. J Bacteriol. 1983 Jan;153(1):163–168. doi: 10.1128/jb.153.1.163-168.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Kamens J., Richardson P., Mosialos G., Brent R., Gilmore T. Oncogenic transformation by vrel requires an amino-terminal activation domain. Mol Cell Biol. 1990 Jun;10(6):2840–2847. doi: 10.1128/mcb.10.6.2840. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Kawai S., Nishizawa M. New procedure for DNA transfection with polycation and dimethyl sulfoxide. Mol Cell Biol. 1984 Jun;4(6):1172–1174. doi: 10.1128/mcb.4.6.1172. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Kidd S. Characterization of the Drosophila cactus locus and analysis of interactions between cactus and dorsal proteins. Cell. 1992 Nov 13;71(4):623–635. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(92)90596-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Lillie J. W., Green M. R. Transcription activation by the adenovirus E1a protein. Nature. 1989 Mar 2;338(6210):39–44. doi: 10.1038/338039a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Ma J., Ptashne M. A new class of yeast transcriptional activators. Cell. 1987 Oct 9;51(1):113–119. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90015-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Morin P. J., Gilmore T. D. The C terminus of the NF-kappa B p50 precursor and an I kappa B isoform contain transcription activation domains. Nucleic Acids Res. 1992 May 25;20(10):2453–2458. doi: 10.1093/nar/20.10.2453. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Ohno H., Takimoto G., McKeithan T. W. The candidate proto-oncogene bcl-3 is related to genes implicated in cell lineage determination and cell cycle control. Cell. 1990 Mar 23;60(6):991–997. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90347-h. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Richardson P. M., Gilmore T. D. vRel is an inactive member of the Rel family of transcriptional activating proteins. J Virol. 1991 Jun;65(6):3122–3130. doi: 10.1128/jvi.65.6.3122-3130.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Ruben S. M., Narayanan R., Klement J. F., Chen C. H., Rosen C. A. Functional characterization of the NF-kappa B p65 transcriptional activator and an alternatively spliced derivative. Mol Cell Biol. 1992 Feb;12(2):444–454. doi: 10.1128/mcb.12.2.444. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Sadowski I., Ptashne M. A vector for expressing GAL4(1-147) fusions in mammalian cells. Nucleic Acids Res. 1989 Sep 25;17(18):7539–7539. doi: 10.1093/nar/17.18.7539. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Schmitz M. L., Baeuerle P. A. The p65 subunit is responsible for the strong transcription activating potential of NF-kappa B. EMBO J. 1991 Dec;10(12):3805–3817. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1991.tb04950.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Schmitz M. L., Henkel T., Baeuerle P. A. Proteins controlling the nuclear uptake of NF-kappa B, Rel and dorsal. Trends Cell Biol. 1991 Nov;1(5):130–137. doi: 10.1016/0962-8924(91)90118-s. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Tewari M., Dobrzanski P., Mohn K. L., Cressman D. E., Hsu J. C., Bravo R., Taub R. Rapid induction in regenerating liver of RL/IF-1 (an I kappa B that inhibits NF-kappa B, RelB-p50, and c-Rel-p50) and PHF, a novel kappa B site-binding complex. Mol Cell Biol. 1992 Jun;12(6):2898–2908. doi: 10.1128/mcb.12.6.2898. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Wu L. C., Tan T. H., Shahied S. I. Expression and characterization of the trans-activating protein Tax of human T-cell leukemia virus type I in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. J Virol. 1992 Dec;66(12):7253–7261. doi: 10.1128/jvi.66.12.7253-7261.1992. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Yocum R. R., Hanley S., West R., Jr, Ptashne M. Use of lacZ fusions to delimit regulatory elements of the inducible divergent GAL1-GAL10 promoter in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mol Cell Biol. 1984 Oct;4(10):1985–1998. doi: 10.1128/mcb.4.10.1985. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Nucleic Acids Research are provided here courtesy of Oxford University Press

RESOURCES