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
. 1991 Apr 15;88(8):3004–3008. doi: 10.1073/pnas.88.8.3004

Structure and promoter activity of the gene for the erythroid transcription factor GATA-1.

R Hannon 1, T Evans 1, G Felsenfeld 1, H Gould 1
PMCID: PMC51372  PMID: 2014222

Abstract

We have cloned the gene for the chicken erythroid transcription factor GATA-1 (formerly Eryf1, NF-E1, or GF-1). The gene is composed of six exons, two of which encode the two finger domains of the protein. Transcription of GATA-1 in chicken embryonic erythroid cells initiates from multiple sites clustered approximately 200 base pairs upstream from the start of protein-coding sequence. A number of sequence motifs for known DNA-binding proteins are found to be protected in DNase I-footprinting experiments by either erythroid or brain nuclear extracts or by both. Notably, a cluster of three GATA-1 sites is protected by the erythroid extract, as well as by purified GATA-1. We find that the upstream region of the gene functions as a powerful promoter when transfected into embryonic erythroid cells. In primary chicken embryo fibroblasts the promoter exhibits lower activity, which is increased when the cells are cotransfected with a second plasmid expressing the GATA-1 cDNA. The results suggest that GATA-1 protein plays an autoregulatory role in its own expression.

Full text

PDF
3004

Images in this article

Selected References

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

  1. Beato M. Gene regulation by steroid hormones. Cell. 1989 Feb 10;56(3):335–344. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90237-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Beug H., Doederlein G., Freudenstein C., Graf T. Erythroblast cell lines transformed by a temperature-sensitive mutant of avian erythroblastosis virus: a model system to study erythroid differentiation in vitro. J Cell Physiol Suppl. 1982;1:195–207. doi: 10.1002/jcp.1041130427. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Chen R. P., Ingraham H. A., Treacy M. N., Albert V. R., Wilson L., Rosenfeld M. G. Autoregulation of pit-1 gene expression mediated by two cis-active promoter elements. Nature. 1990 Aug 9;346(6284):583–586. doi: 10.1038/346583a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Clark S. P., Lewis C. D., Felsenfeld G. Properties of BGP1, a poly(dG)-binding protein from chicken erythrocytes. Nucleic Acids Res. 1990 Sep 11;18(17):5119–5126. doi: 10.1093/nar/18.17.5119. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Evans T., Felsenfeld G. The erythroid-specific transcription factor Eryf1: a new finger protein. Cell. 1989 Sep 8;58(5):877–885. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90940-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Evans T., Felsenfeld G. trans-Activation of a globin promoter in nonerythroid cells. Mol Cell Biol. 1991 Feb;11(2):843–853. doi: 10.1128/mcb.11.2.843. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Evans T., Reitman M., Felsenfeld G. An erythrocyte-specific DNA-binding factor recognizes a regulatory sequence common to all chicken globin genes. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Aug;85(16):5976–5980. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.16.5976. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Frischauf A. M., Lehrach H., Poustka A., Murray N. Lambda replacement vectors carrying polylinker sequences. J Mol Biol. 1983 Nov 15;170(4):827–842. doi: 10.1016/s0022-2836(83)80190-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Glass C. K., Holloway J. M., Devary O. V., Rosenfeld M. G. The thyroid hormone receptor binds with opposite transcriptional effects to a common sequence motif in thyroid hormone and estrogen response elements. Cell. 1988 Jul 29;54(3):313–323. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90194-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Glineur C., Zenke M., Beug H., Ghysdael J. Phosphorylation of the v-erbA protein is required for its function as an oncogene. Genes Dev. 1990 Oct;4(10):1663–1676. doi: 10.1101/gad.4.10.1663. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Hiromi Y., Gehring W. J. Regulation and function of the Drosophila segmentation gene fushi tarazu. Cell. 1987 Sep 11;50(6):963–974. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90523-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Jackson P. D., Evans T., Nickol J. M., Felsenfeld G. Developmental modulation of protein binding to beta-globin gene regulatory sites within chicken erythrocyte nuclei. Genes Dev. 1989 Dec;3(12A):1860–1873. doi: 10.1101/gad.3.12a.1860. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Lewis C. D., Clark S. P., Felsenfeld G., Gould H. An erythrocyte-specific protein that binds to the poly(dG) region of the chicken beta-globin gene promoter. Genes Dev. 1988 Jul;2(7):863–873. doi: 10.1101/gad.2.7.863. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Martin D. I., Orkin S. H. Transcriptional activation and DNA binding by the erythroid factor GF-1/NF-E1/Eryf 1. Genes Dev. 1990 Nov;4(11):1886–1898. doi: 10.1101/gad.4.11.1886. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Martin D. I., Tsai S. F., Orkin S. H. Increased gamma-globin expression in a nondeletion HPFH mediated by an erythroid-specific DNA-binding factor. Nature. 1989 Mar 30;338(6214):435–438. doi: 10.1038/338435a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Martin D. I., Zon L. I., Mutter G., Orkin S. H. Expression of an erythroid transcription factor in megakaryocytic and mast cell lineages. Nature. 1990 Mar 29;344(6265):444–447. doi: 10.1038/344444a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. McMahon J., Howe K. M., Watson R. J. The induction of Friend erythroleukaemia differentiation is markedly affected by expression of a transfected c-myb cDNA. Oncogene. 1988 Dec;3(6):717–720. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Nakagoshi H., Nagase T., Kanei-Ishii C., Ueno Y., Ishii S. Binding of the c-myb proto-oncogene product to the simian virus 40 enhancer stimulates transcription. J Biol Chem. 1990 Feb 25;265(6):3479–3483. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Reitman M., Felsenfeld G. Mutational analysis of the chicken beta-globin enhancer reveals two positive-acting domains. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Sep;85(17):6267–6271. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.17.6267. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Sporn M. B., Roberts A. B. Role of retinoids in differentiation and carcinogenesis. Cancer Res. 1983 Jul;43(7):3034–3040. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Thayer M. J., Tapscott S. J., Davis R. L., Wright W. E., Lassar A. B., Weintraub H. Positive autoregulation of the myogenic determination gene MyoD1. Cell. 1989 Jul 28;58(2):241–248. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90838-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Tora L., Gaub M. P., Mader S., Dierich A., Bellard M., Chambon P. Cell-specific activity of a GGTCA half-palindromic oestrogen-responsive element in the chicken ovalbumin gene promoter. EMBO J. 1988 Dec 1;7(12):3771–3778. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1988.tb03261.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Trainor C. D., Evans T., Felsenfeld G., Boguski M. S. Structure and evolution of a human erythroid transcription factor. Nature. 1990 Jan 4;343(6253):92–96. doi: 10.1038/343092a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Tsai S. F., Martin D. I., Zon L. I., D'Andrea A. D., Wong G. G., Orkin S. H. Cloning of cDNA for the major DNA-binding protein of the erythroid lineage through expression in mammalian cells. Nature. 1989 Jun 8;339(6224):446–451. doi: 10.1038/339446a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Wall L., deBoer E., Grosveld F. The human beta-globin gene 3' enhancer contains multiple binding sites for an erythroid-specific protein. Genes Dev. 1988 Sep;2(9):1089–1100. doi: 10.1101/gad.2.9.1089. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Wallace R. B., Miyada C. G. Oligonucleotide probes for the screening of recombinant DNA libraries. Methods Enzymol. 1987;152:432–442. doi: 10.1016/0076-6879(87)52050-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Wang L. H., Tsai S. Y., Cook R. G., Beattie W. G., Tsai M. J., O'Malley B. W. COUP transcription factor is a member of the steroid receptor superfamily. Nature. 1989 Jul 13;340(6229):163–166. doi: 10.1038/340163a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Yamamoto M., Ko L. J., Leonard M. W., Beug H., Orkin S. H., Engel J. D. Activity and tissue-specific expression of the transcription factor NF-E1 multigene family. Genes Dev. 1990 Oct;4(10):1650–1662. doi: 10.1101/gad.4.10.1650. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Zon L. I., Tsai S. F., Burgess S., Matsudaira P., Bruns G. A., Orkin S. H. The major human erythroid DNA-binding protein (GF-1): primary sequence and localization of the gene to the X chromosome. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1990 Jan;87(2):668–672. doi: 10.1073/pnas.87.2.668. [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