Skip to main content

Some NLM-NCBI services and products are experiencing heavy traffic, which may affect performance and availability. We apologize for the inconvenience and appreciate your patience. For assistance, please contact our Help Desk at info@ncbi.nlm.nih.gov.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1994 Apr 12;91(8):3368–3372. doi: 10.1073/pnas.91.8.3368

Distinct DNA-binding properties of the high mobility group domain of murine and human SRY sex-determining factors.

K Giese 1, J Pagel 1, R Grosschedl 1
PMCID: PMC43578  PMID: 8159753

Abstract

The mammalian sex-determining gene SRY (sex-determining region on Y chromosome) encodes a member of the high mobility group (HMG) family of regulatory proteins. The HMG domain of the SRY protein represents a DNA binding motif that displays rather unusually weak evolutionary conservation of amino acids between human and mouse sequences. Together with the previous finding that the human (h) SRY gene is unable to induce a male phenotype in genetically female transgenic mice, these observations raise questions concerning the DNA binding properties of SRY proteins. Here, we present data that indicate that the DNA binding and bending properties of the HMG domains of murine (m) SRY and hSRY differ from each other. In comparison, mSRY shows more-extensive major-groove contacts with DNA and a higher specificity of sequence recognition than hSRY. Moreover, the extent of protein-induced DNA bending differs from the HMG domains of hSRY and mSRY. These differences in DNA binding by hSRY and mSRY may, in part, account for the functional differences observed with these gene products.

Full text

PDF
3368

Images in this article

Selected References

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

  1. Bell S. P., Learned R. M., Jantzen H. M., Tjian R. Functional cooperativity between transcription factors UBF1 and SL1 mediates human ribosomal RNA synthesis. Science. 1988 Sep 2;241(4870):1192–1197. doi: 10.1126/science.3413483. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Berta P., Hawkins J. R., Sinclair A. H., Taylor A., Griffiths B. L., Goodfellow P. N., Fellous M. Genetic evidence equating SRY and the testis-determining factor. Nature. 1990 Nov 29;348(6300):448–450. doi: 10.1038/348448A0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Bianchi M. E. Interaction of a protein from rat liver nuclei with cruciform DNA. EMBO J. 1988 Mar;7(3):843–849. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1988.tb02883.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bruhn S. L., Pil P. M., Essigmann J. M., Housman D. E., Lippard S. J. Isolation and characterization of human cDNA clones encoding a high mobility group box protein that recognizes structural distortions to DNA caused by binding of the anticancer agent cisplatin. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1992 Mar 15;89(6):2307–2311. doi: 10.1073/pnas.89.6.2307. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Diffley J. F., Stillman B. A close relative of the nuclear, chromosomal high-mobility group protein HMG1 in yeast mitochondria. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1991 Sep 1;88(17):7864–7868. doi: 10.1073/pnas.88.17.7864. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Ferrari S., Harley V. R., Pontiggia A., Goodfellow P. N., Lovell-Badge R., Bianchi M. E. SRY, like HMG1, recognizes sharp angles in DNA. EMBO J. 1992 Dec;11(12):4497–4506. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1992.tb05551.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Foster J. W., Brennan F. E., Hampikian G. K., Goodfellow P. N., Sinclair A. H., Lovell-Badge R., Selwood L., Renfree M. B., Cooper D. W., Graves J. A. Evolution of sex determination and the Y chromosome: SRY-related sequences in marsupials. Nature. 1992 Oct 8;359(6395):531–533. doi: 10.1038/359531a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Gartenberg M. R., Crothers D. M. DNA sequence determinants of CAP-induced bending and protein binding affinity. Nature. 1988 Jun 30;333(6176):824–829. doi: 10.1038/333824a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Giese K., Amsterdam A., Grosschedl R. DNA-binding properties of the HMG domain of the lymphoid-specific transcriptional regulator LEF-1. Genes Dev. 1991 Dec;5(12B):2567–2578. doi: 10.1101/gad.5.12b.2567. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Giese K., Cox J., Grosschedl R. The HMG domain of lymphoid enhancer factor 1 bends DNA and facilitates assembly of functional nucleoprotein structures. Cell. 1992 Apr 3;69(1):185–195. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(92)90129-z. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Gubbay J., Collignon J., Koopman P., Capel B., Economou A., Münsterberg A., Vivian N., Goodfellow P., Lovell-Badge R. A gene mapping to the sex-determining region of the mouse Y chromosome is a member of a novel family of embryonically expressed genes. Nature. 1990 Jul 19;346(6281):245–250. doi: 10.1038/346245a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Harley V. R., Jackson D. I., Hextall P. J., Hawkins J. R., Berkovitz G. D., Sockanathan S., Lovell-Badge R., Goodfellow P. N. DNA binding activity of recombinant SRY from normal males and XY females. Science. 1992 Jan 24;255(5043):453–456. doi: 10.1126/science.1734522. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Hawkins J. R., Taylor A., Berta P., Levilliers J., Van der Auwera B., Goodfellow P. N. Mutational analysis of SRY: nonsense and missense mutations in XY sex reversal. Hum Genet. 1992 Feb;88(4):471–474. doi: 10.1007/BF00215684. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Jantzen H. M., Admon A., Bell S. P., Tjian R. Nucleolar transcription factor hUBF contains a DNA-binding motif with homology to HMG proteins. Nature. 1990 Apr 26;344(6269):830–836. doi: 10.1038/344830a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Johnson P. F., McKnight S. L. Eukaryotic transcriptional regulatory proteins. Annu Rev Biochem. 1989;58:799–839. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.58.070189.004055. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Jäger R. J., Anvret M., Hall K., Scherer G. A human XY female with a frame shift mutation in the candidate testis-determining gene SRY. Nature. 1990 Nov 29;348(6300):452–454. doi: 10.1038/348452a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Kelly M., Burke J., Smith M., Klar A., Beach D. Four mating-type genes control sexual differentiation in the fission yeast. EMBO J. 1988 May;7(5):1537–1547. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1988.tb02973.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Koopman P., Gubbay J., Vivian N., Goodfellow P., Lovell-Badge R. Male development of chromosomally female mice transgenic for Sry. Nature. 1991 May 9;351(6322):117–121. doi: 10.1038/351117a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Leblanc B., Read C., Moss T. Recognition of the Xenopus ribosomal core promoter by the transcription factor xUBF involves multiple HMG box domains and leads to an xUBF interdomain interaction. EMBO J. 1993 Feb;12(2):513–525. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1993.tb05683.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Maxam A. M., Gilbert W. Sequencing end-labeled DNA with base-specific chemical cleavages. Methods Enzymol. 1980;65(1):499–560. doi: 10.1016/s0076-6879(80)65059-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. McElreavey K., Vilain E., Abbas N., Herskowitz I., Fellous M. A regulatory cascade hypothesis for mammalian sex determination: SRY represses a negative regulator of male development. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1993 Apr 15;90(8):3368–3372. doi: 10.1073/pnas.90.8.3368. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. McStay B., Frazier M. W., Reeder R. H. xUBF contains a novel dimerization domain essential for RNA polymerase I transcription. Genes Dev. 1991 Nov;5(11):1957–1968. doi: 10.1101/gad.5.11.1957. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Nasrin N., Buggs C., Kong X. F., Carnazza J., Goebl M., Alexander-Bridges M. DNA-binding properties of the product of the testis-determining gene and a related protein. Nature. 1991 Nov 28;354(6351):317–320. doi: 10.1038/354317a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Parisi M. A., Clayton D. A. Similarity of human mitochondrial transcription factor 1 to high mobility group proteins. Science. 1991 May 17;252(5008):965–969. doi: 10.1126/science.2035027. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Shirakata M., Hüppi K., Usuda S., Okazaki K., Yoshida K., Sakano H. HMG1-related DNA-binding protein isolated with V-(D)-J recombination signal probes. Mol Cell Biol. 1991 Sep;11(9):4528–4536. doi: 10.1128/mcb.11.9.4528. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Sinclair A. H., Berta P., Palmer M. S., Hawkins J. R., Griffiths B. L., Smith M. J., Foster J. W., Frischauf A. M., Lovell-Badge R., Goodfellow P. N. A gene from the human sex-determining region encodes a protein with homology to a conserved DNA-binding motif. Nature. 1990 Jul 19;346(6281):240–244. doi: 10.1038/346240a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Starr D. B., Hawley D. K. TFIID binds in the minor groove of the TATA box. Cell. 1991 Dec 20;67(6):1231–1240. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90299-e. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Sugimoto A., Iino Y., Maeda T., Watanabe Y., Yamamoto M. Schizosaccharomyces pombe ste11+ encodes a transcription factor with an HMG motif that is a critical regulator of sexual development. Genes Dev. 1991 Nov;5(11):1990–1999. doi: 10.1101/gad.5.11.1990. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Thompson J. F., Landy A. Empirical estimation of protein-induced DNA bending angles: applications to lambda site-specific recombination complexes. Nucleic Acids Res. 1988 Oct 25;16(20):9687–9705. doi: 10.1093/nar/16.20.9687. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Travis A., Amsterdam A., Belanger C., Grosschedl R. LEF-1, a gene encoding a lymphoid-specific protein with an HMG domain, regulates T-cell receptor alpha enhancer function [corrected]. Genes Dev. 1991 May;5(5):880–894. doi: 10.1101/gad.5.5.880. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Tucker P. K., Lundrigan B. L. Rapid evolution of the sex determining locus in Old World mice and rats. Nature. 1993 Aug 19;364(6439):715–717. doi: 10.1038/364715a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Waterman M. L., Fischer W. H., Jones K. A. A thymus-specific member of the HMG protein family regulates the human T cell receptor C alpha enhancer. Genes Dev. 1991 Apr;5(4):656–669. doi: 10.1101/gad.5.4.656. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Whitfield L. S., Lovell-Badge R., Goodfellow P. N. Rapid sequence evolution of the mammalian sex-determining gene SRY. Nature. 1993 Aug 19;364(6439):713–715. doi: 10.1038/364713a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. van de Wetering M., Clevers H. Sequence-specific interaction of the HMG box proteins TCF-1 and SRY occurs within the minor groove of a Watson-Crick double helix. EMBO J. 1992 Aug;11(8):3039–3044. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1992.tb05374.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. van de Wetering M., Oosterwegel M., Dooijes D., Clevers H. Identification and cloning of TCF-1, a T lymphocyte-specific transcription factor containing a sequence-specific HMG box. EMBO J. 1991 Jan;10(1):123–132. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1991.tb07928.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES