• BMB Reports
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• v.39 no.3
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• pp.311-318
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• 2006

One of the biggest group of proteins influenced by protein kinase CK2 is formed by factors engaged in gene expression. Here we have reported recently identified yeast transcription elongation factor Elf1 as a new substrate for both monomeric and tetrameric forms of CK2. Elf1 serves as a substrate for both the recombinant CK2$\alpha$' ($K_m$ 0.38 ${\mu}M$) and holoenzyme ($K_m$ $0.13\;{\mu}M$). By MALDI-MS we identified the two serine residues at positions 95 and 117 as the most probable in vitro phosphorylation sites. Co-immunoprecypitation experiments show that Elf1 interacts with catalytic ($\alpha$ and $\alpha$') as well as regulatory ($\beta$ and $\beta$') subunits of CK2. These data may help to elucidate the role of protein kinase CK2 and Elf1 in the regulation of transcription elongation.

• Genomics & Informatics
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• v.17 no.1
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• pp.8.1-8.10
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• 2019

Alveolar type II cells constitute a small fraction of the total lung cell mass. However, they play an important role in many cellular processes including trans-differentiation into type I cells as well as repair of lung injury in response to toxic chemicals and respiratory pathogens. Transcription factors are the regulatory proteins dynamically modulating DNA structure and gene expression. Transcription factor profiling in microarray datasets revealed that several members of AP1, ATF, $NF-{\kappa}B$, and C/EBP families involved in diverse responses were expressed in mouse lung type II cells. A transcriptional factor signature consisting of Cebpa, Srebf1, Stat3, Klf5, and Elf3 was identified in lung type II cells, Sox9+ pluripotent lung stem cells as well as in mouse lung development. Identification of the transcription factor profile in mouse lung type II cells will serve as a useful resource and facilitate the integrated analysis of signal transduction pathways and specific gene targets in a variety of physiological conditions.

• 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.

• Journal of the Korean Magnetic Resonance Society
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• v.22 no.4
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• pp.119-124
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• 2018

Although the transcription factor CP2c has been recently validated as a promising target for development of novel anticancer therapy, its structure has not been solved yet. In the present study, the purified recombinant protein corresponding to the tetramerization domain of CP2c appeared to be well folded, whereas the Elf-1 domain showed a largely unfolded conformation. Particularly, the Elf-1 domain, which contains the putative DNA-binding region, showed a conformational equilibrium between relatively less-ordered and well-ordered conformers. Interestingly, addition of zinc shifted the equilibrium to the relatively more structured conformer, whereas zinc binding decreased the overall stability of the protein, leading to a promoted precipitation. Likewise, a dodecapeptide that has been suggested to bind to the Elf-1 domain also appeared to shift the conformational equilibrium and to destabilize the protein. These results constitute the first structural characterization of the CP2c domains and newly suggest that zinc ion might be involved in the conformational regulation of the protein.