Mouse Oct-1 contains a composite homeodomain of human Oct-1 and Oct-2

• Published in: Nucleic acids research 1993-01, Vol.21 (2), p.245-252
• Main Authors: Suzuki, Norkaki, Peter, Werner, Ciesiolka, Thomas, Gruss, Peter, Scholer, Hans R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Animals; Base Sequence; Biological and medical sciences; Blotting, Northern; Blotting, Southern; Cloning, Molecular; DNA; DNA-Binding Proteins - genetics; DNA-Binding Proteins - metabolism; Embryonic and Fetal Development - genetics; Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology; Gene Expression Regulation; Genes. Genome; Herpes simplex virus; Herpes Simplex Virus Protein Vmw65 - metabolism; Host Cell Factor C1; Humans; Mice; Molecular and cellular biology; Molecular genetics; Molecular Sequence Data; Octamer Transcription Factor-1; Octamer Transcription Factor-2; Restriction Mapping; RNA Splicing; Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; Transcription Factors - genetics; Transcription Factors - metabolism
• ISSN: 0305-1048; 1362-4962
• DOI: 10.1093/nar/21.2.245

Members of the Oct family of transcrition factors specifically interact with the octamer motif, ATGC AAAT, a regulatory element important for tissue- and cell-specific transcription as well as for the expression of housekeeping genes. Except for Oct-1, all Oct factors are expressed in a temporally and spatially restricted mode during murine development and their number varies in a given cell type. Despite its ubiquitous expression pattern Oct-1 may play a role in murine development. As a first step towards elucidating the role of Oct-1 we report the complementary DNA cloning of the mouse Oct-1 gene. Two large transcripts of 5 and 14 kb are derived from a single gene. The expression patterns of three splicing products of Oct-1 are similar in a number of cells and tissues. In the POU region murine Oct-1 differs In four amino acids from the human homologue and these differences are restricted to helices 1 and 2. Interestingly, two of the four variant amino acids are identical to those In human and mouse Oct-2 and thus the murine Oct-1 homeodomain is intermediary In sequence between human Oct-1 and Oct-2. These two amino acids together with a third one have been shown to be relevant for the interaction between human Oct-1 and herpes simplex virus transactlvator VP16. Nevertheless, VP16 interacts albeit weakly with murine Oct-1. We speculate that the differences in the human and mouse Oct-1 homeodomalns reflect host-specific differences in protein - protein Interactions.