H. Messier et al., A NOVEL POU DOMAIN PROTEIN WHICH BINDS TO THE T-CELL RECEPTOR-BETA ENHANCER, Molecular and cellular biology, 13(9), 1993, pp. 5450-5460
POU domain proteins have been implicated in the regulation of a number
of lineage-specific genes. Among the first POU domain proteins descri
bed were the immunoglobulin octamer-binding proteins Oct-I and Oct-2.
It was therefore of special interest when we identified a novel lympho
id POU domain protein in Southwestern (DNA-protein) screens of T-cell
lambdagt11 libraries. This novel POU protein, TCFbeta1, binds in a seq
uence-specific manner to a critical motif in the T-cell receptor (TCR)
beta enhancer. Sequence analysis revealed that TCFbeta1 represents a
new class of POU domain proteins which are distantly related to other
POU proteins. TCFbeta1 is encoded by multiple exons whose organization
is distinct from that of other POU domain proteins. The expression of
TCFbeta, in a tissue-restricted manner and its ability to bind to mul
tiple motifs in the TCR beta enhancer support a role in regulating TCR
beta gene expression. The expression of TCFbeta1 in both B and T cell
s and the ability of recombinant TCFbeta1 to bind octamer and octamer-
related motifs suggest that TCFbeta1 has additional roles in lymphoid
cell function. The ability of TCFbeta1 to transactivate in a sequence-
specific manner is consistent with a role for regulating lymphoid gene
expression.