FOG-2, a Heart- and Brain-Enriched Cofactor for GATA Transcription Factors

• DOI: 10.1128/mcb.19.6.4495
• Publication Date: 2015-10-26T10:18:57Z
• Authors: Jian-rong Lu; Timothy A. McKinsey; Hongtao Xu; Da-zhi Wang; James A. Richardson; Eric N. Olson
• Keywords: Expressed Sequence Tags; Male; 0301 basic medicine; Databases, Factual; Models, Genetic; Myocardium; Molecular Sequence Data; Brain; Embryo, Mammalian; Immunohistochemistry; GATA4 Transcription Factor; DNA-Binding Proteins; Mice; 03 medical and health sciences; COS Cells; Animals; Humans; Amino Acid Sequence; Cloning, Molecular; Promoter Regions, Genetic; Cells, Cultured; In Situ Hybridization

Members of the GATA family of zinc finger transcription factors have been shown to play important roles in the control of gene expression in a variety of cell types. GATA-1, -2, and -3 are expressed primarily in hematopoietic cell lineages and are required for proliferation and differentiation of multiple hematopoietic cell types, whereas GATA-4, -5, and -6 are expressed in the heart, where they activate cardiac muscle structural genes. Friend of GATA-1 (FOG) is a multitype zinc finger protein that interacts with GATA-1 and serves as a cofactor for GATA-1-mediated transcription. FOG is coexpressed with GATA-1 in developing erythroid and megakaryocyte cell lineages and cooperates with GATA-1 to control erythropoiesis. We describe a novel FOG-related factor, FOG-2, that is expressed predominantly in the developing and adult heart, brain, and testis. FOG-2 interacts with GATA factors, and interaction of GATA-4 and FOG-2 results in either synergistic activation or repression of GATA-dependent cardiac promoters, depending on the specific promoter and the cell type in which they are tested. The properties of FOG-2 suggest its involvement in the control of cardiac and neural gene expression by GATA transcription factors.