Skip to main content
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
. 1992 May 15;89(10):4236–4239. doi: 10.1073/pnas.89.10.4236

Transformation and transactivation suppressor activity of the c-Jun leucine zipper fused to a bacterial repressor.

M Granger-Schnarr 1, E Benusiglio 1, M Schnarr 1, P Sassone-Corsi 1
PMCID: PMC49056  PMID: 1584758

Abstract

Transcription factor c-Jun appears to be a nuclear target of the Ras-induced signal transduction pathway. In fact, some experiments show that transforming forms of the Ras protein cooperate with Jun in transcriptional activation mediated by an AP-1 site and others indicate that the two oncoproteins cooperate in cellular transformation. Although it is likely that intracellular signaling systems activated by Ras might act directly on c-Jun by inducing specific phosphorylation, it is unclear how c-Jun participates in the transformation process. Here, we present results obtained with a LexA-Jun zipper fusion that lacks both the transcriptional activation domains and the basic region of the DNA-binding domain of c-Jun and contains only the intact leucine-zipper domain. This fusion product has a dominant negative effect on the transcriptional activation elicited by phorbol esters, c-Jun, c-Fos, Ras and E1A on an AP-1-responsive site. An analogous LexA-Fos zipper fusion has similar effects on transcriptional induction. The LexA-Jun zipper fusion acts further as a transformation suppressor, since it causes the generation of nontransformed revertants of ras-transformed cells. This effect is likely to be elicited by the dimerization potential of the Jun leucine zipper trapping cellular Jun and/or Fos in a protein complex unable to bind to DNA. These data implicate further that Ras-mediated transformation involves functional transcription factor AP-1 and that it is possible to interfere with cell transformation by interfering simply with the dimerization of transcription factors involved in the transformation process.

Full text

PDF
4236

Images in this article

Selected References

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

  1. Auwerx J., Sassone-Corsi P. IP-1: a dominant inhibitor of Fos/Jun whose activity is modulated by phosphorylation. Cell. 1991 Mar 8;64(5):983–993. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90322-p. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Baichwal V. R., Park A., Tjian R. v-Src and EJ Ras alleviate repression of c-Jun by a cell-specific inhibitor. Nature. 1991 Jul 11;352(6331):165–168. doi: 10.1038/352165a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Benezra R., Davis R. L., Lockshon D., Turner D. L., Weintraub H. The protein Id: a negative regulator of helix-loop-helix DNA binding proteins. Cell. 1990 Apr 6;61(1):49–59. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(90)90214-y. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Binétruy B., Smeal T., Karin M. Ha-Ras augments c-Jun activity and stimulates phosphorylation of its activation domain. Nature. 1991 May 9;351(6322):122–127. doi: 10.1038/351122a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Boyle W. J., Smeal T., Defize L. H., Angel P., Woodgett J. R., Karin M., Hunter T. Activation of protein kinase C decreases phosphorylation of c-Jun at sites that negatively regulate its DNA-binding activity. Cell. 1991 Feb 8;64(3):573–584. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90241-p. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Chiu R., Boyle W. J., Meek J., Smeal T., Hunter T., Karin M. The c-Fos protein interacts with c-Jun/AP-1 to stimulate transcription of AP-1 responsive genes. Cell. 1988 Aug 12;54(4):541–552. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90076-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Curran T., Franza B. R., Jr Fos and Jun: the AP-1 connection. Cell. 1988 Nov 4;55(3):395–397. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90024-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Der C. J., Finkel T., Cooper G. M. Biological and biochemical properties of human rasH genes mutated at codon 61. Cell. 1986 Jan 17;44(1):167–176. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90495-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Foulkes N. S., Borrelli E., Sassone-Corsi P. CREM gene: use of alternative DNA-binding domains generates multiple antagonists of cAMP-induced transcription. Cell. 1991 Feb 22;64(4):739–749. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90503-q. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Foulkes N. S., Sassone-Corsi P. More is better: activators and repressors from the same gene. Cell. 1992 Feb 7;68(3):411–414. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(92)90178-f. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Hunter T. Cooperation between oncogenes. Cell. 1991 Jan 25;64(2):249–270. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90637-e. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Imler J. L., Schatz C., Wasylyk C., Chatton B., Wasylyk B. A Harvey-ras responsive transcription element is also responsive to a tumour-promoter and to serum. Nature. 1988 Mar 17;332(6161):275–278. doi: 10.1038/332275a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Kitayama H., Sugimoto Y., Matsuzaki T., Ikawa Y., Noda M. A ras-related gene with transformation suppressor activity. Cell. 1989 Jan 13;56(1):77–84. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90985-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Little J. W., Hill S. A. Deletions within a hinge region of a specific DNA-binding protein. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Apr;82(8):2301–2305. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.8.2301. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Lloyd A., Yancheva N., Wasylyk B. Transformation suppressor activity of a Jun transcription factor lacking its activation domain. Nature. 1991 Aug 15;352(6336):635–638. doi: 10.1038/352635a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Murakami Y., Asano M., Satake M., Ito Y. A tumor promoting phorbol ester, TPA, enhances polyomavirus DNA replication by activating the function of the viral enhancer. Oncogene. 1990 Jan;5(1):5–13. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Nakabeppu Y., Nathans D. A naturally occurring truncated form of FosB that inhibits Fos/Jun transcriptional activity. Cell. 1991 Feb 22;64(4):751–759. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(91)90504-r. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Sassone-Corsi P., Der C. J., Verma I. M. ras-induced neuronal differentiation of PC12 cells: possible involvement of fos and jun. Mol Cell Biol. 1989 Aug;9(8):3174–3183. doi: 10.1128/mcb.9.8.3174. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Sassone-Corsi P., Lamph W. W., Kamps M., Verma I. M. fos-associated cellular p39 is related to nuclear transcription factor AP-1. Cell. 1988 Aug 12;54(4):553–560. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90077-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Schmidt-Dörr T., Oertel-Buchheit P., Pernelle C., Bracco L., Schnarr M., Granger-Schnarr M. Construction, purification, and characterization of a hybrid protein comprising the DNA binding domain of the LexA repressor and the Jun leucine zipper: a circular dichroism and mutagenesis study. Biochemistry. 1991 Oct 8;30(40):9657–9664. doi: 10.1021/bi00104a013. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Schütte J., Minna J. D., Birrer M. J. Deregulated expression of human c-jun transforms primary rat embryo cells in cooperation with an activated c-Ha-ras gene and transforms rat-1a cells as a single gene. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1989 Apr;86(7):2257–2261. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.7.2257. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Schütte J., Viallet J., Nau M., Segal S., Fedorko J., Minna J. jun-B inhibits and c-fos stimulates the transforming and trans-activating activities of c-jun. Cell. 1989 Dec 22;59(6):987–997. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90755-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Sistonen L., Hölttä E., Mäkelä T. P., Keski-Oja J., Alitalo K. The cellular response to induction of the p21 c-Ha-ras oncoprotein includes stimulation of jun gene expression. EMBO J. 1989 Mar;8(3):815–822. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1989.tb03442.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Stacey D. W., Watson T., Kung H. F., Curran T. Microinjection of transforming ras protein induces c-fos expression. Mol Cell Biol. 1987 Jan;7(1):523–527. doi: 10.1128/mcb.7.1.523. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Treisman R. Identification of a protein-binding site that mediates transcriptional response of the c-fos gene to serum factors. Cell. 1986 Aug 15;46(4):567–574. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90882-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. de Groot R., Foulkes N., Mulder M., Kruijer W., Sassone-Corsi P. Positive regulation of jun/AP-1 by E1A. Mol Cell Biol. 1991 Jan;11(1):192–201. doi: 10.1128/mcb.11.1.192. [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