Defining unique structural features in the MAFA and MAFB transcription factors that control Insulin gene activity.

ABSTRACT: MAFA and MAFB are related basic-leucine-zipper domain-containing transcription factors which have important overlapping and distinct regulatory roles in a variety of cellular contexts, including hormone production in pancreatic islet cells. Here, we first examined how mutating conserved MAF protein-DNA contact sites obtained from X-ray crystal structure analysis impacted their DNA-binding and Insulin enhancer-driven activity. While most of these interactions were essential and their disruption severely compromised activity, we identified that regions outside of these contact sites also contributed to transcriptional activity. AlphaFold 2 (https://alphafold.ebi.ac.uk), an artificial intelligence-based structural prediction program, was used to determine if there were also differences in the

SUBMITTER: Cha J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11626809 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature