NEGATIVE AUTOREGULATION OF C-MYB ACTIVITY BY HOMODIMER FORMATION THROUGH THE LEUCINE-ZIPPER

The trans-activating and transforming capacities of the c-myb proto-on cogene product (c-Myb) are negatively regulated through a leucine zipp er structure in its negative regulatory domain. We show here that in c ontransfection assays, maximal Myb-induced trans-activation occurs wit h relatively low amounts of wild-type c-Myb, while higher levels of c- Myb result in reduced Myb-induced trans-activation. By contrast, this apparent negative autoregulation is not observed with a c-Myb mutant c ontaining an impaired leucine zipper. Data presented here suggest that this negative autoregulation of trans-activation by wild-type c-Myb i s a consequence of homodimer formation by c-Myb through its leucine zi pper and of the inability of c-Myb dimers to bind DNA. These findings point to a novel mechanism of regulation of a transcription factor.