Identification of Novel Domains within Sox-2 and Sox-11 Involved in Autoinhibition of DNA Binding and Partnership Specificity

Authors

Matthew S. Wiebe, University of Nebraska Medical CenterFollow
Tamara K. Nowling, University of Nebraska Medical Center
Angie Rizzino, University of Nebraska Medical CenterFollow

Document Type

Article

Date of this Version

2003

Citation

Published in Journal of Biological Chemistry 278:20 (May 16, 2003), pp. 17901–17911

Comments

Copyright © 2003 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc. Used by permission.

Abstract

Sox transcription factors play key regulatory roles throughout development, binding DNA through a consensus (A/T)(A/T)CAA(A/T)G sequence. Although many different Sox proteins bind to this se-quence, it has been observed that gene regulatory elements are commonly responsive to only a small subset of the entire family, implying that regulatory mechanisms exist to permit selective DNA bind-ing and/or transactivation by Sox family members. To identify and explore the mechanisms modu-lating gene activation by Sox proteins further, we compared the function of Sox-2 and Sox-11. This led to the discovery that Sox proteins are regulated differentially at multiple levels, including trans-activation, protein partnerships with Pit-Oct-Unc (POU) transcription factors, and DNA binding au-toregulation. Specifically, we determined that Sox-11 activates transcription more strongly than Sox-2 and that the transactivation domain of Sox-11 is primarily responsible for this capability. Addition-ally, we demonstrate that the Sox-11 DNA binding domain is responsible for selective cooperation with the POU factor Brn-2. This requirement cannot be replaced by the DNA binding domain of Sox-2, indicating that the DNA binding domain of Sox proteins is critical for Sox-POU partnerships. In-terestingly, we have also determined that a conserved domain of Sox-11 has the novel capability of autoinhibiting its ability to bind DNA in vitro and to activate gene expression in vivo. Our findings suggest that the autoinhibitory domain can repress promiscuous binding of Sox-11 to DNA and plays an important role in regulating the recruitment of Sox-11 to specific genes.