A functional screen in human cells identifies UBF2 as an RNA polymerase II transcription factor that enhances the beta-catenin signaling pathway

Mol Cell Biol. 2003 Jun;23(11):3936-50. doi: 10.1128/MCB.23.11.3936-3950.2003.

Abstract

beta-Catenin signaling plays an important role in the development of many organisms and has a key part in driving the malignant transformation of epithelial cells comprising a variety of cancers. beta-Catenin can activate gene expression through its association with transcription factors of the lymphoid enhancer factor 1 (LEF-1)/T-cell factor (TCF) family. We designed a screen in human cells to identify novel genes that activate a beta-catenin-LEF/TCF-responsive promoter and isolated the high-mobility group box transcription factor, UBF2. UBF1 and UBF2 are splice variants of a common precursor RNA. Although UBF1 has been shown to activate RNA polymerase I-regulated genes, the function of UBF2 has remained obscure. Here, we show for the first time that both UBF1 and UBF2 activate RNA polymerase II-regulated promoters. UBF2 associates with LEF-1, as shown by coimmunoprecipitation experiments, and potentiates transcriptional activation stimulated by LEF-1/beta-catenin from a synthetic promoter with multimerized LEF/TCF binding sites and a natural cyclin D1 promoter with consensus LEF/TCF binding sites. Downregulation of endogenous UBF expression using an RNA interference approach reduces transcriptional activation of a beta-catenin-LEF/TCF-responsive promoter by means of overexpressed beta-catenin, further implicating UBF as a transcriptional enhancer of the beta-catenin pathway.

MeSH terms

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Cell Line
  • Cell Nucleus / metabolism
  • Cyclin D1 / genetics
  • Cyclin D1 / metabolism
  • Cytoskeletal Proteins / genetics
  • Cytoskeletal Proteins / metabolism*
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / genetics
  • DNA-Binding Proteins / metabolism
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Gene Expression Regulation
  • Genes, Reporter
  • High Mobility Group Proteins / chemistry
  • High Mobility Group Proteins / genetics
  • High Mobility Group Proteins / metabolism*
  • Humans
  • Lymphoid Enhancer-Binding Factor 1
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Pol1 Transcription Initiation Complex Proteins / chemistry
  • Pol1 Transcription Initiation Complex Proteins / genetics
  • Pol1 Transcription Initiation Complex Proteins / metabolism*
  • Promoter Regions, Genetic
  • RNA Polymerase II / metabolism*
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins / metabolism
  • Sequence Alignment
  • Signal Transduction / physiology*
  • Trans-Activators / genetics
  • Trans-Activators / metabolism*
  • Transcription Factors / genetics
  • Transcription Factors / metabolism
  • beta Catenin

Substances

  • CTNNB1 protein, human
  • Cytoskeletal Proteins
  • DNA-Binding Proteins
  • High Mobility Group Proteins
  • LEF1 protein, human
  • Lymphoid Enhancer-Binding Factor 1
  • Pol1 Transcription Initiation Complex Proteins
  • Recombinant Fusion Proteins
  • Trans-Activators
  • Transcription Factors
  • beta Catenin
  • transcription factor UBF
  • Cyclin D1
  • RNA Polymerase II