K. Zemzoumi et al., CLONING OF SCHISTOSOMA-MANSONI TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR NF-YA SUBUNIT - PHYLOGENIC CONSERVATION OF THE HAP-2 HOMOLOGY DOMAIN, Molecular and biochemical parasitology, 77(2), 1996, pp. 161-172
The CCAAT-binding factor NF-Y (CBF/CPI) is a heteromeric transcription
factor involved in the regulation of a variety of eukaryotic genes. W
e identified NF-Y as the CCAAT activity binding to the promoter region
of the gene coding for the 28-kDa glutathione S-transferase of the hu
man parasite Schistosoma mansoni (Sm28GST). We isolated the NF-YA cDNA
from S. mansoni (SmNF-YA): the complete 268 amino acid sequence harbo
rs a region in its C-terminal part that shows homology with the subuni
t interaction and DNA-binding domains of the mammalian NF-YA; the N-te
rminal region has an amino acid composition reminiscent of the mammali
an and echinoderm counterparts, rich in glutamine and hydrophobic resi
dues, but shows no sequence similarity at the primary level. In vitro
synthesized SMNF-YA is able to associate with mammalian NF-YB/C subuni
ts in the absence of DNA and to bind to the Sm28GST CCAAT box. Surpris
ingly, a monoclonal antibody directed against the non-conserved Q-rich
activation domain of mammalian NF-YA supershifts and immunoprecipitat
es SMNF-YA, strongly suggesting structure conservation in the activati
on domain between divergent species.