The Journal of Experimental Medicine
Avanti Polar Lipids, Inc.
  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search | Table of Contents
This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF, 492K)
Right arrow PPT slides of all figures
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Citation Map
Services
Right arrow Email this article
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new content in the JEM
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via CrossRef
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Kim, W. W.S.
Right arrow Articles by Siu, G.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Kim, W. W.S.
Right arrow Articles by Siu, G.
Social Bookmarking
Add to CiteULike   Add to Complore   Add to Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us   Add to Digg   Add to Facebook   Add to Reddit   Add to Technorati   Add to Twitter  
What's this?
© The Rockefeller University Press, 0022-1007/1999/7/281/ $5.00
The Journal of Experimental Medicine, Volume 190, Number 2, July 19, 1999 281-292

Original Article

Subclass-Specific Nuclear Localization of a Novel Cd4 Silencer Binding Factor

William W.S. Kima and Gerald Siua

a From the Department of Microbiology and the Integrated Program in Cellular, Molecular and Biophysical Studies, Columbia University College of Physicians and Surgeons, New York 10032
Department of Microbiology and the Integrated Program in Cellular, Molecular and Biophysical Studies, Columbia University, College of Physicians and Surgeons, 701 West 168th St., New York, NY 10032.212-305-8013212-305-2743

siu{at}cusiu3.cpmc.columbia.edu

The control of CD4 expression is essential for proper T lymphocyte development. We have previously described a cis-acting silencer element required for repressing transcription of the CD4 gene. Here we report the cloning and characterization of a novel factor that binds to a critical functional site in the CD4 silencer. This factor, referred to as silencer-associated factor (SAF), is a member of the helix-turn-helix factor family and shares sequence similarity with the homeodomain class of transcriptional regulators. Introduction of a specific mutation into the SAF binding site in the CD4 silencer abrogates silencer activity in transgenic mice, supporting the hypothesis that SAF is important in mediating silencer function. Although SAF is expressed in all lymphocytes, immunofluorescence studies indicate that SAF is present primarily in the cytoplasm in T cells in which the endogenous silencer is nonfunctional, whereas it is present primarily in the nucleus in T cells in which the silencer is functional. We thus hypothesize that the subclass-specific subcellular compartmentalization of SAF plays an important role in mediating the specificity of function of the CD4 silencer during T cell development.

Key Words: transcriptional silencer • T cell development • subcellular localization

1used in this paper: DN, double negative; DP, double positive; EMSA, electrophoretic mobility shift assay; EXD, Extradenticle; GST, glutathione S-transferase; HHTH, helix-helix-turn-helix; HTH, helix-turn-helix; ORF, open reading frame; SAF, silencer-associated factor; SP, single positive; Tc, cytotoxic T cell

© 1999 The Rockefeller University Press


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Facebook Facebook   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to Technorati Technorati   Add to Twitter Twitter    What's this?




  Home | Help | Feedback | Subscriptions | Archive | Search
TABLE OF CONTENTS