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An HMG-like protein that can switch a transcriptional activator to a repressor

Nature volume 371, pages 175–179 (1994)Cite this article

Abstract

ONE protein can activate some genes and repress others in the same cell1. The Drosophila protein Dorsal2 (which, like the human protein NF-κB3, is a member of the Rel family of transcriptional activators) activates the twist gene and represses the zen gene in the ventral region of early embryos4,5. Here we describe a Drosophila HMG1 protein, called DSP1 (dorsal switch protein), that converts Dorsal and NF-κB from transcriptional activators to repressers. This effect requires a sequence termed a negative regulatory ele-ment (NRE), found adjacent to Dorsal-binding sites in the zen promoter and adjacent to the NF-κB-binding site in the human interferon-β (IFN-β) enhancer6–8. Previous studies have shown that another type of HMG protein, HMG I(Y), can stimulate NF-κB activity9. Thus, the HMG-like proteins DSP1 and HMG I(Y) can determine whether a specific regulator functions as an activator or a repressor of transcription.

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Author notes

  1. Jun Ma

    Present address: Division of Basic Science Research, Children's Hospital Research Founda-tion, Elland and Bethesda Avenues, Cincinnati, Ohio, 45229-2899, USA

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Harvard University, 7 Divinity Avenue, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 02138, USA

    Norbert Lehming, Dimitris Thanos, Joshua M. Brickman, Jun Ma, Tom Maniatis & Mark Ptashne

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Lehming, N., Thanos, D., Brickman, J. et al. An HMG-like protein that can switch a transcriptional activator to a repressor. Nature 371, 175–179 (1994). https://doi.org/10.1038/371175a0

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