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. 1991 Sep;11(9):4651–4659. doi: 10.1128/mcb.11.9.4651

elt-1, an embryonically expressed Caenorhabditis elegans gene homologous to the GATA transcription factor family.

J Spieth 1, Y H Shim 1, K Lea 1, R Conrad 1, T Blumenthal 1
PMCID: PMC361353  PMID: 1875944

Abstract

The short, asymmetrical DNA sequence to which the vertebrate GATA family of transcription factors binds is present in some Caenorhabditis elegans gene regulatory regions: it is required for activation of the vitellogenin genes and is also found just 5' of the TATA boxes of tra-2 and the msp genes. In vertebrates GATA-1 is specific to erythroid lineages, whereas GATA-2 and GATA-3 are present in multiple tissues. In an effort to identify the trans-acting factors that may recognize this sequence element in C. elegans, we used a degenerate oligonucleotide to clone a C. elegans homolog to this gene. We call this gene elt-1 (erythrocytelike transcription factor). It is single copy and specifies a 1.75-kb mRNA that is present predominantly, if not exclusively, in embryos. The region of elt-1 encoding two zinc fingers is remarkably similar to the DNA-binding domain of the vertebrate GATA-binding proteins. However, outside of the DNA-binding domains the amino acid sequences are quite divergent. Nevertheless, introns are located at identical or nearly identical positions in elt-1 and the mouse GATA-1 gene. In addition, elt-1 mRNA is trans-spliced to the 22-base untranslated leader, SL1. The DNA upstream of the elt-1 TATA box contains eight copies of the GATA recognition sequence within the first 300 bp, suggesting that elt-1 may be autogenously regulated. Our results suggest that the specialized role of GATA-1 in erythroid gene expression was derived after separation of the nematodes and the line that led to the vertebrates, since C. elegans lacks an erythroid lineage.

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Selected References

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