Cloning and Characterization of a Novel Transcriptional Repressor of the Nicotinic Acetylcholine Receptor -Subunit Gene

• Published in: The Journal of biological chemistry Vol. 271; no. 12; p. 7203
• Main Authors: Mohan K. Sapru, Jian Ping Gao, Wade Walke, Margit Burmeister, Daniel Goldman
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology 22.03.1996
• ISSN: 0021-9258; 1083-351X
• DOI: 10.1074/jbc.271.12.7203

We have identified a negative cis-acting regulatory element in the nicotinic acetylcholine receptor -subunit gene's promoter. This element resides within a previously identified 47-base pair activity-dependent enhancer. Proteins that bind this region of DNA were cloned from a gt11 innervated muscle expression library. Two cDNAs (MY1 and MY1a) were isolated that encode members of the Y-box family of transcription factors. MY1/1a RNAs are expressed at relatively high levels in heart, skeletal muscle, testis, glia, and specific regions of the central nervous system. MY1/1a are nuclear proteins that bind specifically to the coding strand of the 47-base pair enhancer and suppress -promoter activity in a sequence-specific manner. These results suggest a novel mechanism of repression by MY1/1a, which may contribute to the low level expression of the -subunit gene in innervated muscle. Finally, the gene encoding MY1/1a, Yb2 , maps to the mid-distal region of mouse chromosome 6.