Mechanism of regulatory target selection by the SOX high-mobility-group domain proteins as revealed by comparison of SOX1/2/3 and SOX9

SOX proteins bind similar DNA motifs through their high-mobility-group (HMG ) domains, but their action is highly specific with respect to target genes and cell type. We investigated the mechanism of target selection by compar ing SOX1/2/3, which activate delta-crystallin minimal enhancer DC5, with SO X9, which activates Col2a1 minimal enhancer COL2C2. These enhancers depend on both the SOX binding site and the binding site of a putative partner fac tor. The DC5 site was equally bound and bent by the HMG domains of SOX1/2 a nd SOX9. The activation domains of these SOX proteins mapped at the distal portions of the C-terminal domains were not cell specific and were independ ent of the partner factor. Chimeric proteins produced between SOX1 and SOX9 showed that to activate the DC5 enhancer, the C-terminal domain must be th at of SOX1, although the HMG domains were replaceable. The SOX2-VP16 fusion protein, in which the activation domain of SOX2 was replaced by that of VP 16, activated the DC5 enhancer still in a partner factor-dependent manner. The results argue that the proximal portion of the C-terminal domain of SOX 1/2 specifically interacts with the partner factor, and this interaction de termines the specificity of the SOX1/2 action. Essentially the same results were obtained in the converse experiments in which COL2C2 activation by SO X9 was analyzed, except that specificity of SOX9-partner factor interaction also involved the SOX9 HMG domain. The highly selective SOX-partner factor interactions presumably stabilize the DNA binding of the SOX proteins and provide the mechanism for regulatory target selection.