A conserved motif present in a class of helix-loop-helix proteins activates transcription by direct recruitment of the SAGA complex.

The class I helix-loop-helix (HLH) proteins, which include E2A, HEB, and E2-2, have been shown to be required for lineage-specific gene expression during T and B lymphocyte development. Additionally, the E2A proteins function to regulate V(D)J recombination, possibly by allowing access of variable region segments to the recombination machinery. The mechanisms by which E2A regulates transcription and recombination, however, are largely unknown. Here, we identify a novel motif, LDFS, present in the vertebrate class I HLH proteins as well as in a yeast HLH protein that is essential for transactivation. We provide both genetic and biochemical evidence that the highly conserved LDFS motif stimulates transcription by direct recruitment of the SAGA histone acetyltransferase complex.

Characterization of ABF-1, a novel basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor expressed in activated B lymphocytes.

Proteins of the basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) family are required for a number of different developmental pathways, including neurogenesis, lymphopoiesis, myogenesis, and sex determination. Using a yeast two-hybrid screen, we have identified a new bHLH transcription factor, ABF-1, from a human B-cell cDNA library. Within the bHLH region, ABF-1 shows a remarkable conservation with other HLH proteins, including tal-1, NeuroD, and paraxis. Its expression pattern is restricted to a subset of lymphoid tissues, Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-transformed lymphoblastoid cell lines, and activated human B cells. ABF-1 is capable of binding an E-box element either as a homodimer or as a heterodimer with E2A. Furthermore, a heterodimeric complex containing ABF-1 and E2A can be detected in EBV-immortalized lymphoblastoid cell lines. ABF-1 contains a transcriptional repression domain and is capable of inhibiting the transactivation capability of E47 in mammalian cells. ABF-1 represents the first example of a B-cell-restricted bHLH protein, and its expression pattern suggests that ABF-1 may play a role in regulating antigen-dependent B-cell differentiation.

The AD1 transactivation domain of E2A contains a highly conserved helix which is required for its activity in both Saccharomyces cerevisiae and mammalian cells.

A conserved region, designated the AD1 domain, is present in a class of helix-loop-helix (HLH) proteins, E proteins, that includes E12, E47, HEB, E2-2, and a Xenopus laevis HLH protein closely related to E12. We demonstrate that the AD1 domain in E2A and the conserved region of E2-2 activate transcription in both yeast and mammalian cells. The AD1 domain contains a highly conserved putative helix that is crucial for its transactivation properties. Circular dichroism spectroscopy data show that AD1 is structured and contains distinctive helical properties. In addition, we show that a synthetic peptide corresponding to the conserved region is unstructured in aqueous solution at neutral pH but can adopt an alpha-helical conformation in the presence of the hydrophobic solvent trifluoroethanol. Amino acid substitutions that destabilize the helix abolish the transactivation ability of the AD1 domain. Both structural and functional analyses of AD1 reveal striking similarities to the acidic class of activators. Remarkably, when wild-type and mutant proteins are expressed in mammalian cells and Saccharomyces cerevisiae, identical patterns of transactivation are observed, suggesting that the target molecule is conserved between S. cerevisiae and mammals. These data show that transactivation by E proteins is mediated, in part, by a strikingly conserved peptide that has the ability to form a helix in a hydrophobic solvent. We propose that the unstructured domain may become helical upon interaction with its cellular target molecule.

c-jun inhibits insulin control element-mediated transcription by affecting the transactivation potential of the E2A gene products.

Pancreatic beta-cell-type-specific transcription of the insulin gene is principally controlled by trans-acting factors which influence insulin control element (ICE)-mediated expression. The ICE activator is composed, in part, of the basic helix-loop-helix proteins E12, E47, and E2-5 encoded by the E2A gene. Previous experiments showed that ICE activation in beta cells was repressed in vivo by the c-jun proto-oncogene (E. Henderson and R. Stein, Mol. Cell. Biol. 14:655-662, 1994). Here we focus on the mechanism by which c-Jun inhibits ICE-mediated activation. c-Jun was shown to specifically repress the transactivation potential of the E2A proteins. Thus, we found that the activity of GAL4:E2A fusion constructs was inhibited by c-Jun. The transrepression capabilities of c-Jun were detected only in pancreatic islet cell lines that contained a functional ICE activator. Repression of GAL4:E2A was mediated by the basic leucine zipper regions of c-Jun, which are also the essential regions of this protein necessary for controlling ICE activator-stimulated expression in vivo. The specific target of c-Jun repression was the transactivation domain (located between amino acids 345 and 408 in E12 and E47) conserved in E12, E47, and E2-5. In contrast, the activation domain unique to the E12 and E47 proteins (located between amino acids 1 and 99) was unresponsive to c-Jun. Our results indicate that c-Jun inhibits insulin gene transcription in beta cells by reducing the transactivation potential of the E2A proteins present in the ICE activator complex.

A new transcriptional-activation motif restricted to a class of helix-loop-helix proteins is functionally conserved in both yeast and mammalian cells.

Previous studies demonstrated that the amino-terminal portions of E2A and E2-2 are crucial for transactivation. Subsequent findings showed that the same amino-terminal region of E2A is involved in two different translocation events contributing to the induction of a pre-B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia and a pro-B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukemia. These results led us to focus on the amino-terminal region of E2A to better understand its normal role in transcriptional regulation and its aberrant involvement in the two leukemias. We report here the identification of two conserved boxes in the E2A amino-terminal domain that show extensive homology within the transactivation domains of E12, E47, E2-2, HEB, and daughterless, all members of the same class of helix-loop-helix proteins. Together, both boxes are crucial for transcriptional activation and have the potential to form a new activation motif, that of a loop adjacent to an amphipathic alpha-helix, designated the loop-helix (LH) motif. A minimal region containing the LH motif is sufficient for transcriptional activation. Point mutations in the amphipathic helix of the minimal region reduce its transactivation capabilities dramatically. The same constructs expressed in yeast cells show identical patterns of activation, suggesting that the LH motif and its target proteins are functionally conserved in yeast cells. We propose that the LH motif represents a novel transactivation domain that is distinct from the previously characterized acidic blob, proline-rich, and glutamine-rich activation motifs. In addition, the LH motif is the first activation motif restricted to one class of DNA binding proteins.