Skip to main content
Molecular and Cellular Biology logoLink to Molecular and Cellular Biology
. 1993 Oct;13(10):6314–6325. doi: 10.1128/mcb.13.10.6314

A genetic analysis of the E2F1 gene distinguishes regulation by Rb, p107, and adenovirus E4.

W D Cress 1, D G Johnson 1, J R Nevins 1
PMCID: PMC364690  PMID: 8413230

Abstract

The cellular transcription factor E2F appears to be a target for the regulatory action of the retinoblastoma tumor suppressor gene product. The recent isolation of the E2F1 cDNA clone, which encodes a polypeptide with properties characteristic of E2F, has now allowed a more detailed analysis of the regulation of E2F function by Rb as well as the Rb-related p107 protein and the adenovirus 19-kDa E4 gene product. Previous experiments have shown that each of these regulatory proteins can modulate the activity of cellular E2F. We find that each of these regulatory events can be mediated through the E2F1 product. Moreover, an examination of various E2F1 mutations reveals distinct specificities for these regulatory proteins. For instance, the ability of E4 to alter E2F1 function is dependent upon sequences within a putative leucine repeat of E2F1 as well as within the C-terminal acidic domain. In contrast, the leucine repeat element was not important for Rb- or p107-mediated inhibition of E2F1 activity. Although the C-terminal acidic domain of E2F1, previously shown to be important for Rb binding, appears to be a site for regulation of E2F1 by Rb and p107, point mutations within this region distinguish recognition by Rb and p107. These results underscore the complexity of E2F regulatory interactions and also demonstrate a qualitative distinction in the interactions of Rb and p107 with E2F1, perhaps reflective of functional differences.

Full text

PDF
6314

Images in this article

Selected References

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

  1. Bagchi S., Raychaudhuri P., Nevins J. R. Adenovirus E1A proteins can dissociate heteromeric complexes involving the E2F transcription factor: a novel mechanism for E1A trans-activation. Cell. 1990 Aug 24;62(4):659–669. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90112-r. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bagchi S., Weinmann R., Raychaudhuri P. The retinoblastoma protein copurifies with E2F-I, an E1A-regulated inhibitor of the transcription factor E2F. Cell. 1991 Jun 14;65(6):1063–1072. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90558-g. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bandara L. R., Adamczewski J. P., Hunt T., La Thangue N. B. Cyclin A and the retinoblastoma gene product complex with a common transcription factor. Nature. 1991 Jul 18;352(6332):249–251. doi: 10.1038/352249a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bandara L. R., La Thangue N. B. Adenovirus E1a prevents the retinoblastoma gene product from complexing with a cellular transcription factor. Nature. 1991 Jun 6;351(6326):494–497. doi: 10.1038/351494a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Blake M. C., Azizkhan J. C. Transcription factor E2F is required for efficient expression of the hamster dihydrofolate reductase gene in vitro and in vivo. Mol Cell Biol. 1989 Nov;9(11):4994–5002. doi: 10.1128/mcb.9.11.4994. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Cao L., Faha B., Dembski M., Tsai L. H., Harlow E., Dyson N. Independent binding of the retinoblastoma protein and p107 to the transcription factor E2F. Nature. 1992 Jan 9;355(6356):176–179. doi: 10.1038/355176a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Chellappan S. P., Hiebert S., Mudryj M., Horowitz J. M., Nevins J. R. The E2F transcription factor is a cellular target for the RB protein. Cell. 1991 Jun 14;65(6):1053–1061. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90557-f. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Chellappan S., Kraus V. B., Kroger B., Munger K., Howley P. M., Phelps W. C., Nevins J. R. Adenovirus E1A, simian virus 40 tumor antigen, and human papillomavirus E7 protein share the capacity to disrupt the interaction between transcription factor E2F and the retinoblastoma gene product. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1992 May 15;89(10):4549–4553. doi: 10.1073/pnas.89.10.4549. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Chittenden T., Livingston D. M., Kaelin W. G., Jr The T/E1A-binding domain of the retinoblastoma product can interact selectively with a sequence-specific DNA-binding protein. Cell. 1991 Jun 14;65(6):1073–1082. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90559-h. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Cress W. D., Triezenberg S. J. Critical structural elements of the VP16 transcriptional activation domain. Science. 1991 Jan 4;251(4989):87–90. doi: 10.1126/science.1846049. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Dalton S. Cell cycle regulation of the human cdc2 gene. EMBO J. 1992 May;11(5):1797–1804. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1992.tb05231.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Defeo-Jones D., Huang P. S., Jones R. E., Haskell K. M., Vuocolo G. A., Hanobik M. G., Huber H. E., Oliff A. Cloning of cDNAs for cellular proteins that bind to the retinoblastoma gene product. Nature. 1991 Jul 18;352(6332):251–254. doi: 10.1038/352251a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Devoto S. H., Mudryj M., Pines J., Hunter T., Nevins J. R. A cyclin A-protein kinase complex possesses sequence-specific DNA binding activity: p33cdk2 is a component of the E2F-cyclin A complex. Cell. 1992 Jan 10;68(1):167–176. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(92)90215-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Figge J., Webster T., Smith T. F., Paucha E. Prediction of similar transforming regions in simian virus 40 large T, adenovirus E1A, and myc oncoproteins. J Virol. 1988 May;62(5):1814–1818. doi: 10.1128/jvi.62.5.1814-1818.1988. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Girling R., Partridge J. F., Bandara L. R., Burden N., Totty N. F., Hsuan J. J., La Thangue N. B. A new component of the transcription factor DRTF1/E2F. Nature. 1993 Mar 4;362(6415):83–87. doi: 10.1038/362083a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Gorman C. M., Moffat L. F., Howard B. H. Recombinant genomes which express chloramphenicol acetyltransferase in mammalian cells. Mol Cell Biol. 1982 Sep;2(9):1044–1051. doi: 10.1128/mcb.2.9.1044. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Hagemeier C., Bannister A. J., Cook A., Kouzarides T. The activation domain of transcription factor PU.1 binds the retinoblastoma (RB) protein and the transcription factor TFIID in vitro: RB shows sequence similarity to TFIID and TFIIB. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1993 Feb 15;90(4):1580–1584. doi: 10.1073/pnas.90.4.1580. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Hamel P. A., Gill R. M., Phillips R. A., Gallie B. L. Transcriptional repression of the E2-containing promoters EIIaE, c-myc, and RB1 by the product of the RB1 gene. Mol Cell Biol. 1992 Aug;12(8):3431–3438. doi: 10.1128/mcb.12.8.3431. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Hardy S., Engel D. A., Shenk T. An adenovirus early region 4 gene product is required for induction of the infection-specific form of cellular E2F activity. Genes Dev. 1989 Jul;3(7):1062–1074. doi: 10.1101/gad.3.7.1062. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Hardy S., Shenk T. E2F from adenovirus-infected cells binds cooperatively to DNA containing two properly oriented and spaced recognition sites. Mol Cell Biol. 1989 Oct;9(10):4495–4506. doi: 10.1128/mcb.9.10.4495. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Helin K., Lees J. A., Vidal M., Dyson N., Harlow E., Fattaey A. A cDNA encoding a pRB-binding protein with properties of the transcription factor E2F. Cell. 1992 Jul 24;70(2):337–350. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(92)90107-n. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Hiebert S. W., Chellappan S. P., Horowitz J. M., Nevins J. R. The interaction of RB with E2F coincides with an inhibition of the transcriptional activity of E2F. Genes Dev. 1992 Feb;6(2):177–185. doi: 10.1101/gad.6.2.177. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Hope I. A., Mahadevan S., Struhl K. Structural and functional characterization of the short acidic transcriptional activation region of yeast GCN4 protein. Nature. 1988 Jun 16;333(6174):635–640. doi: 10.1038/333635a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Huang M. M., Hearing P. Adenovirus early region 4 encodes two gene products with redundant effects in lytic infection. J Virol. 1989 Jun;63(6):2605–2615. doi: 10.1128/jvi.63.6.2605-2615.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Kaelin W. G., Jr, Krek W., Sellers W. R., DeCaprio J. A., Ajchenbaum F., Fuchs C. S., Chittenden T., Li Y., Farnham P. J., Blanar M. A. Expression cloning of a cDNA encoding a retinoblastoma-binding protein with E2F-like properties. Cell. 1992 Jul 24;70(2):351–364. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(92)90108-o. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Kim Y. K., Lee A. S. Identification of a 70-base-pair cell cycle regulatory unit within the promoter of the human thymidine kinase gene and its interaction with cellular factors. Mol Cell Biol. 1991 Apr;11(4):2296–2302. doi: 10.1128/mcb.11.4.2296. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Kovesdi I., Reichel R., Nevins J. R. Identification of a cellular transcription factor involved in E1A trans-activation. Cell. 1986 Apr 25;45(2):219–228. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90386-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Kunkel T. A. Rapid and efficient site-specific mutagenesis without phenotypic selection. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Jan;82(2):488–492. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.2.488. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Laemmli U. K. Cleavage of structural proteins during the assembly of the head of bacteriophage T4. Nature. 1970 Aug 15;227(5259):680–685. doi: 10.1038/227680a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Leuther K. K., Salmeron J. M., Johnston S. A. Genetic evidence that an activation domain of GAL4 does not require acidity and may form a beta sheet. Cell. 1993 Feb 26;72(4):575–585. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(93)90076-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Loeken M. R., Brady J. The adenovirus EIIA enhancer. Analysis of regulatory sequences and changes in binding activity of ATF and EIIF following adenovirus infection. J Biol Chem. 1989 Apr 15;264(11):6572–6579. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. MacGregor G. R., Mogg A. E., Burke J. F., Caskey C. T. Histochemical staining of clonal mammalian cell lines expressing E. coli beta galactosidase indicates heterogeneous expression of the bacterial gene. Somat Cell Mol Genet. 1987 May;13(3):253–265. doi: 10.1007/BF01535207. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Means A. L., Slansky J. E., McMahon S. L., Knuth M. W., Farnham P. J. The HIP1 binding site is required for growth regulation of the dihydrofolate reductase gene promoter. Mol Cell Biol. 1992 Mar;12(3):1054–1063. doi: 10.1128/mcb.12.3.1054. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Mudryj M., Devoto S. H., Hiebert S. W., Hunter T., Pines J., Nevins J. R. Cell cycle regulation of the E2F transcription factor involves an interaction with cyclin A. Cell. 1991 Jun 28;65(7):1243–1253. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90019-u. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Neill S. D., Hemstrom C., Virtanen A., Nevins J. R. An adenovirus E4 gene product trans-activates E2 transcription and stimulates stable E2F binding through a direct association with E2F. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1990 Mar;87(5):2008–2012. doi: 10.1073/pnas.87.5.2008. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Neill S. D., Nevins J. R. Genetic analysis of the adenovirus E4 6/7 trans activator: interaction with E2F and induction of a stable DNA-protein complex are critical for activity. J Virol. 1991 Oct;65(10):5364–5373. doi: 10.1128/jvi.65.10.5364-5373.1991. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Nevins J. R. E2F: a link between the Rb tumor suppressor protein and viral oncoproteins. Science. 1992 Oct 16;258(5081):424–429. doi: 10.1126/science.1411535. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  38. Pagano M., Draetta G., Jansen-Dürr P. Association of cdk2 kinase with the transcription factor E2F during S phase. Science. 1992 Feb 28;255(5048):1144–1147. doi: 10.1126/science.1312258. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  39. Pearson B. E., Nasheuer H. P., Wang T. S. Human DNA polymerase alpha gene: sequences controlling expression in cycling and serum-stimulated cells. Mol Cell Biol. 1991 Apr;11(4):2081–2095. doi: 10.1128/mcb.11.4.2081. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  40. Qian Y., Luckey C., Horton L., Esser M., Templeton D. J. Biological function of the retinoblastoma protein requires distinct domains for hyperphosphorylation and transcription factor binding. Mol Cell Biol. 1992 Dec;12(12):5363–5372. doi: 10.1128/mcb.12.12.5363. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  41. Qin X. Q., Chittenden T., Livingston D. M., Kaelin W. G., Jr Identification of a growth suppression domain within the retinoblastoma gene product. Genes Dev. 1992 Jun;6(6):953–964. doi: 10.1101/gad.6.6.953. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  42. Raychaudhuri P., Bagchi S., Neill S. D., Nevins J. R. Activation of the E2F transcription factor in adenovirus-infected cells involves E1A-dependent stimulation of DNA-binding activity and induction of cooperative binding mediated by an E4 gene product. J Virol. 1990 Jun;64(6):2702–2710. doi: 10.1128/jvi.64.6.2702-2710.1990. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  43. Reichel R., Neill S. D., Kovesdi I., Simon M. C., Raychaudhuri P., Nevins J. R. The adenovirus E4 gene, in addition to the E1A gene, is important for trans-activation of E2 transcription and for E2F activation. J Virol. 1989 Sep;63(9):3643–3650. doi: 10.1128/jvi.63.9.3643-3650.1989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  44. Robbins P. D., Horowitz J. M., Mulligan R. C. Negative regulation of human c-fos expression by the retinoblastoma gene product. Nature. 1990 Aug 16;346(6285):668–671. doi: 10.1038/346668a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  45. Sanger F., Nicklen S., Coulson A. R. DNA sequencing with chain-terminating inhibitors. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1977 Dec;74(12):5463–5467. doi: 10.1073/pnas.74.12.5463. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  46. Schwarz J. K., Devoto S. H., Smith E. J., Chellappan S. P., Jakoi L., Nevins J. R. Interactions of the p107 and Rb proteins with E2F during the cell proliferation response. EMBO J. 1993 Mar;12(3):1013–1020. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1993.tb05742.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  47. Shan B., Zhu X., Chen P. L., Durfee T., Yang Y., Sharp D., Lee W. H. Molecular cloning of cellular genes encoding retinoblastoma-associated proteins: identification of a gene with properties of the transcription factor E2F. Mol Cell Biol. 1992 Dec;12(12):5620–5631. doi: 10.1128/mcb.12.12.5620. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  48. Shirodkar S., Ewen M., DeCaprio J. A., Morgan J., Livingston D. M., Chittenden T. The transcription factor E2F interacts with the retinoblastoma product and a p107-cyclin A complex in a cell cycle-regulated manner. Cell. 1992 Jan 10;68(1):157–166. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(92)90214-w. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  49. Slansky J. E., Li Y., Kaelin W. G., Farnham P. J. A protein synthesis-dependent increase in E2F1 mRNA correlates with growth regulation of the dihydrofolate reductase promoter. Mol Cell Biol. 1993 Mar;13(3):1610–1618. doi: 10.1128/mcb.13.3.1610. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  50. Smith D. B., Johnson K. S. Single-step purification of polypeptides expressed in Escherichia coli as fusions with glutathione S-transferase. Gene. 1988 Jul 15;67(1):31–40. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(88)90005-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  51. Weintraub S. J., Prater C. A., Dean D. C. Retinoblastoma protein switches the E2F site from positive to negative element. Nature. 1992 Jul 16;358(6383):259–261. doi: 10.1038/358259a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  52. Yanisch-Perron C., Vieira J., Messing J. Improved M13 phage cloning vectors and host strains: nucleotide sequences of the M13mp18 and pUC19 vectors. Gene. 1985;33(1):103–119. doi: 10.1016/0378-1119(85)90120-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  53. Yee A. S., Raychaudhuri P., Jakoi L., Nevins J. R. The adenovirus-inducible factor E2F stimulates transcription after specific DNA binding. Mol Cell Biol. 1989 Feb;9(2):578–585. doi: 10.1128/mcb.9.2.578. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  54. Zamanian M., La Thangue N. B. Adenovirus E1a prevents the retinoblastoma gene product from repressing the activity of a cellular transcription factor. EMBO J. 1992 Jul;11(7):2603–2610. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1992.tb05325.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  55. Zoller M. J., Smith M. Oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis using M13-derived vectors: an efficient and general procedure for the production of point mutations in any fragment of DNA. Nucleic Acids Res. 1982 Oct 25;10(20):6487–6500. doi: 10.1093/nar/10.20.6487. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Molecular and Cellular Biology are provided here courtesy of Taylor & Francis

RESOURCES