Summary
We have isolated and characterized a tobacco gene, designated G13, encoding a leucine zipper DNA-binding protein related to the transcription activator TGA1a. The G13 coding region is divided into eight exons and the amino acid sequence of the encoded protein (PG13) shows 76% homology to TGA1a. Their putative DNA-contacting regions (basic domains) are identical and they both bind to the same target sequences in vitro. By contrast, some differences are apparent between these proteins at the carboxyl end of the dimerization region (leucine zipper). The basic and leucine zipper domains are encoded on separate small exons. Analysis by DNAse I footprinting, gel shift and competition experiments revealed that TGA1a and PG13 synthesized in Escherichia coli, and the tobacco nuclear factor ASF-1 all bind to at least one site in the 5′ upstream region of G13. The presence of a TGA1a binding site in the upstream region of a TGA1 a-related gene suggests that transcription of this gene is autoregulated.
Article PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Angel P, Hattori K, Smeal T, Karin M (1988) The Jun protooncogene is positively autoregulated by its product, Jun/Ap-1. Cell 55:875–885
Benfey PN, Ren L, Chua N-H (1989) The CaMV 35S enhancer contains at least two domains which can confer different developmental and tissue-specific expression patterns. EMBO J 8:2195–2202
Bouchez D, Tokuhisa JG, Llewellyn DJ, Dennis ES, Ellis JG (1989) The ocs-element is a component of the promoters of several T-DNA and plant viral genes. EMBO J 8:4197–4200
Boutry M, Chua N-H (1985) A nuclear gene encoding the beta subunit of the mitochondrial ATP synthase in Nicotiana plumbaginifolia. EMBO J 4:2159–2165
Chin R, Angel P, Karin M (1989) Jun-B differs in its biological properties from, and is a negative regulator of, c-Jun. Cell 59:979–986
Frohman MA, Dush MK, Martin GR (1988) Rapid production of full-length cDNAs from rare transcripts: Amplification using a single gene-specific oligonucleotide primer. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 85:8998–9002
Fromm H, Katagiri F, Chua NH (1989) An octopine synthase enhancer element directs tissue-specific expression and binds ASF-1, a factor from tobacco nuclear extracts. Plant Cell 1:977–984
Gilbert W (1978) Why genes in pieces? Nature 271:501
Green PG, Kay SA, Lam E, Chua N-H (1989) In vitro DNA footprinting. In: Gelvin SB, Schilperoort RA (eds) Plant Molecular Biology Manual B11. Kluwer Academic Press, Dordrecht, The Netherlands, pp 1–22
Katagiri F, Lam E, Chua N-H (1989) Two tobacco DNA-binding proteins with homology to the nuclear factor CREB. Nature 340:727–730
Katagiri F, Yamazaki K-I, Horikoshi M, Roeder RG, Chua N-H (1990) A plant DNA-binding protein increases the number of active preinitiation complexes in a human in vitro transcription system. Genes Dev 4:1899–1909
Lam E, Benfey PN, Gilmartin PM, Fang R-X, Chua N-H (1989) Site-specific mutations alter in vitro factor binding and change promoter expression pattern in transgenic plants. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 86:7890–7894
Lam E, Katagiri F, Chua N-H (1990a) Plant nuclear factor ASF-I binds to an essential region of the nopaline synthase promoter. J Biol Chem 265:9909–9913
Lam E, Benfey P, Chua N-H (1990b) Characterization of AS-1: a factor binding site on the 35S promoter of cauliflower mosaic virus. UCLA Symp Mol Cell Biol New Series 129:71–79
Maniatis T, Fritsch EF, Sambrook J (1982) Molecular cloning: A laboratory manual, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Press, Cold Spring Harbor, New York
Pick L, Schier A, Affolter M, Schmidt-Glenewinkel T, Gehring WJ (1990) Analysis of the ftz upstream element: germ layer-specific enhancers are independently autoregulated. Genes Dev 4:1224–1239
Serfling E (1989) Autoregulation — a common property of eukaryotic transcription factors? Trends Genet 5:131–133
Studier FW, Rosenberg AH, Dunn JJ, Dubendorf JW (1990) Use of T7 RNA polymerase to direct expression of cloned genes. Methods Enzymol 185:60–89
Verwoerd TC, Dekker BMM, Hoekema A (1989) A small-scale procedure for rapid isolation of plant RNAs. Nucleic Acids Res 17:2362–2362
Vinson CR, Sigler PB, McKnight SL (1989) Scissors-grip model for DNA recognition by a family of leucine zipper proteins. Science 246:911–916
Yamazaki K-I, Katagiri F, Imaseki H, Chua N-H (1990) TGA1a, a tobacco DNA-binding protein, increases the rate of initiation in a plant in vitro transcription system. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 87:7035–7039
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Fromm, H., Katagiri, F. & Chua, NH. The tobacco transcription activator TGA1a binds to a sequence in the 5′ upstream region of a gene encoding a TGA1a-related protein. Molec. Gen. Genet. 229, 181–188 (1991). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00272154
Received:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00272154