Identification of transcriptional activation domain of TREB5, a CREB/ATF family protein that binds to HTLV-1 enhancer.

ABSTRACT

TREB5 (hXBP-1) protein is a transcription factor that recognizes the CRE-like element in enhancers of human T-cell leukemia virus and MHC class II gene and activates their transcription. TREB5 is a member of the CREB/ATF family, containing a basic amino acid region and leucine zipper structure (b-Zip structure). To characterize the key domain of TREB5 for transcriptional activation, mutational analysis was carried out. The C-terminal region of 148-221 amino acids was identified as an activation domain and was also active when fused to Gal4 DNA binding domain. This domain contains three unique regions rich in glutamic acid, glutamine, or serine/threonine and is active in both osteosarcoma (HOS) and T (Jurkat) cell lines. All of these three regions are essential; however, a part of the serine/threonine region was dispensable in Jurkat, but not in HOS cells. In addition to the activation domain, the N-terminal region showed activity in conjunction with the b-Zip structure, but not with the Gal4 DNA binding domain. Furthermore, this region showed activity in Jurkat cells, but not in HOS cells. These results suggest that TREB5 has two activational functions in transcription and may provide diversity in cell-type-specific transcriptional activation, possibly through dimerization with other b-Zip proteins and phosphorylation.