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A combinatorial mechanism for determining the specificity of E2F activation and repression

Oncogene volume 28, pages 2873–2881 (2009)Cite this article

Abstract

Various studies have detailed the role of E2F proteins in both transcription activation and repression. Further study has shown that distinct promoter elements, but comprising the same E2F-recognition motif, confer positive or negative E2F control and that this reflects binding of either activator or repressor E2F proteins, respectively. We now show that the specificity of binding of an activator or repressor E2F protein is determined by adjacent sequences that bind a cooperating transcription factor. We propose that the functional E2F element is a module comprising not only the E2F-binding site but also the adjacent site for the cooperating transcription factor.

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Acknowledgements

We thank the members of the Nevins laboratory for valuable input throughout the course of this study and for comments on the paper. The project described was supported by award number R01CA104663 from the National Cancer Institute. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Cancer Institute or of the National Institutes of Health.

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  1. Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy, Duke University Medical Center, Durham, NC, USA

    J A Freedman, J T Chang, L Jakoi & J R Nevins

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  1. J A Freedman
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Correspondence to J R Nevins.

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Freedman, J., Chang, J., Jakoi, L. et al. A combinatorial mechanism for determining the specificity of E2F activation and repression. Oncogene 28, 2873–2881 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1038/onc.2009.153

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