Identification of nine tissue-specific transcription factors of the hepatocyte nuclear factor 3/forkhead DNA-binding-domain family.

DE Clevidence, DG Overdier, W Tao… - Proceedings of the …, 1993 - National Acad Sciences
DE Clevidence, DG Overdier, W Tao, X Qian, L Pani, E Lai, RH Costa
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 1993National Acad Sciences
Hepatocyte nuclear factor (HNF)-3 alpha,-3 beta, and-3 gamma are liver transcription factors
that mediate the coordinate expression of a number of hepatocyte-specific genes. The HNF-
3 proteins share DNA-binding-domain homology among themselves and with the
Drosophila homeotic protein forkhead (fkh). The HNF-3/fkh DNA-binding domain constitutes
an uncharacterized protein motif that recognizes its cognate DNA binding site as a
monomer. Additional HNF-3/fkh-related proteins are known to be required for determination …
Hepatocyte nuclear factor (HNF)-3 alpha, -3 beta, and -3 gamma are liver transcription factors that mediate the coordinate expression of a number of hepatocyte-specific genes. The HNF-3 proteins share DNA-binding-domain homology among themselves and with the Drosophila homeotic protein forkhead (fkh). The HNF-3/fkh DNA-binding domain constitutes an uncharacterized protein motif that recognizes its cognate DNA binding site as a monomer. Additional HNF-3/fkh-related proteins are known to be required for determination events during embryogenesis in Drosophila and Xenopus. In this report, we describe the isolation of nine additional HNF-3/fkh homologue (HFH) clones from rodent tissue cDNAs by using both low-stringency hybridization and a polymerase chain reaction protocol. Many of the HFH genes exhibit a tissue-restricted expression pattern and are transcribed in tissues other than liver, including brain, kidney, lung, and intestine. The HNF-3/fkh motif therefore comprises a large gene family of transcription factors that play a role in tissue-specific gene regulation and development.
National Acad Sciences