Abstract
HUMAN T-cell leukaemia virus type I (HTLV-I) Tax protein increases the DNA binding of many cellular transcription factors that contain a basic regioná¤-leucine zipper (bZIP) DNA-binding domain1á¤-3. bZIP domains comprise a leucine-rich dimerization motif and a basic region that mediates DNA contact. How Tax recognizes diverse bZIPs is not understood. Here we show that no specific sequence of the leucine zipper is required for a Tax response. In contrast, the basic region is essential for the Tax-mediated DNA-binding increase, which can be eliminated by single substitutions of several conserved amino acids. Surprisingly, Tax alters the relative affinity of a bZIP for different DNA binding sites. Thus, through recognition of the conserved basic region, Tax increases DNA binding and modifies DNA site selection. Tax provides a model for how a single auxiliary factor can regulate multiple sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins.
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Perini, G., Wagner, S. & Green, M. Recognition of bZIP proteins by the human T-cell leukaemia virus transactivator Tax. Nature 376, 602–605 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/376602a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/376602a0
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