• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.6 no.1
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• pp.54-68
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• 2002

PEBP2/CBF (Polyomavirus Enhancer-core Binding Protein 2/Core Binding Factor), represents a new family of heterodimeric transcription factor. Those members play important roles in hematopoiesis and osteogenesis in mouse and human. PEBP2/CBF is a sequence-specific DNA binding protein. Each member of the PEBP2/CBF family of transcription factors is composed of two subunits, ${\alpha}$ and ${\beta}$. The evolutionarily conserved 128 amino acid region in ${\alpha}$ subunit has been called the Runt domain, which harbors two different activities, the ability to bind DNA and interact with the ${\beta}$ subunit. Recently, cDNA clones encoding the C. elegans Runt domain were isolated by screening a cDNA library. This gene was referred to run (Runt homologous gene). In this study, the basic experiments for the structural characterization of RUN protein were performed using spectroscopic methods. We have identified the structural properties of RUN using bioinformatics, CD and NMR. The limit temperature of the structural stability was up to 60$^{\circ}C$ with irreversible thermal process, and the structure of RUN seems to adopt ${\alpha}$ helices and one or more ${\beta}$ sheet or turn. The degree of NMR peak dispersion and intensity was increased by addition of glycine. Therefore, glycine could be used to alleviate the aggregation property of RUN in NMR experiment.

• Journal of Periodontal and Implant Science
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• v.40 no.1
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• pp.39-44
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• 2010

Purpose: Bone tissues for clinical application can be improved by studies on osteoblast differentiation. Runx2 is known to be an important transcription factor for osteoblast differentiation. However, bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)-2 treatment to stimulate Runx2 is not sufficient to acquire enough bone formation in osteoblasts. Therefore, it is necessary to find other regulatory factors which can improve the transcriptional activity of Runx2. The erythroblast transformation-specific (ETS) transcription factor family is reported to be involved in various aspects of cellular proliferation and differentiation. Methods: We have noticed that the promoters of osteoblast differentiation markers such as alkaline phosphatase (Alp), osteopontin (Opn), and osteocalcin (Oc) contain Ets binding sequences which are also close to Runx2 binding elements. Luciferase assays were performed to measure the promoter activities of these osteoblast differentiation markers after the transfection of Runx2, myeloid Elf-1-like factor (MEF), and Runxs+MEF. Reverse-transcription polymerase chain reaction was also done to check the mRNA levels of Opn after Runx2 and MEF transfection into rat osteoblast (ROS) cells. Results: We have found that MEF, an Ets transcription factor, increased the transcriptional activities of Alp, Opn, and Oc. The addition of Runx2 resulted in the 2- to 6-fold increase of the activities. This means that these two transcription factors have a synergistic effect on the osteoblast differentiation markers. Furthermore, early introduction of these two Runx2 and MEF factors significantly elevated the expression of the Opn mRNA levels in ROS cells. We also showed that Runx2 and MEF proteins physically interact with each other. Conclusions: Runx2 interacts with MEF proteins and binds to the promoters of the osteoblast markers such as Opn nearby MEF to increase its transcriptional activity. Our results also imply that osteoblast differentiation and bone formation can be increased by activating MEF to elicit the synergistic effect of Runx2 and MEF.