The immediate-early transcription factor NGFI-A (also called Egr-1, zif/268, or Krox-24) is thought to couple extracellular signals to changes in gene expression. Although activins and inhibins regulate follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) synthesis, no factor has been identified that exclusively regulates luteinizing hormone (LH) synthesis. An analysis of NGFI-A-deficient mice derived from embryonic stem cells demonstrated female infertility that was secondary to LH-beta deficiency. Ovariectomy led to increased amounts of FSH-beta but not LH-beta messenger RNA, which suggested a pituitary defect. A conserved, canonical NGFI-A site in the LH-beta promoter was required for synergistic activation by NGFI-A and steroidogenic factor-1 (SF-1). NGFI-A apparently influences female reproductive capacity through its regulation of LH-beta transcription.

NGFI-A is the prototypic member of a family of immediate-early gene-encoded transcription factors which includes NGFI-C, Egr3, and Krox20. These proteins possess highly homologous DNA-binding domains, composed of three Cys 2 -His 2 zinc fingers, and all bind to and activate transcription from the sequence GCGGGGGCG. We used a PCR-mediated random site selection protocol to determine whether other sites could be bound by these proteins and the extent to which their binding site preferences are similar or different. The high-affinity consensus sites generated from the selection data are similar, and the combined consensus sequence is T -G-C-G-T/g-G/A-G-G-C/a/t-G-G/T (lowercase letters indicate bases selected less frequently).Using gel shift assays, we found that sequences that diverge from the consensus were bound by NGFI-A, confirming that there is greater variability in binding sites than has generally been acknowledged. We also provide evidence that protein-DNA interactions not noted, or whose importance was not apparent from the X-ray cocrystal structure of the NGFI-A zinc fingers complexed with DNA, contribute significantly to the binding energy of these proteins and confirm that an optimal site is at least 10 instead of 9 nucleotides in length. In contrast to the similarities in binding specificity among these proteins, we found that while NGFI-A, Egr3, and Krox20 have comparable DNA binding affinities and kinetics of dissociation, the affinity of NGFI-C is more than threefold lower. This could result in differential regulation of target genes in cells where NGFI-C and the other proteins are coexpressed. Furthermore, we show that this affinity difference is a property not of the zinc fingers themselves but rather of the protein context of the DNA-binding domain.

Nab proteins constitute an evolutionarily conserved family of corepressors that specifically interact with and repress transcription mediated by three members of the NGFI-A (Egr-1, Krox24, zif/268) family of immediate-early gene transcription factors, which includes NGFI-C, Krox20, and Egr3. We explored the mechanism of Nab1 repression and identified structural domains required for Nab1 function. Nab1 does not act by blocking DNA binding or nuclear localization of NGFI-A. In fact, Nab1 repression is not unique to NGFI-A because multiple types of non-NGFI-A activation domains were repressed, as was a heterologous transcription factor carrying the NGFI-A R1 domain, which is required for Nab1 interaction. Additionally, Nab1 tethered directly to DNA repressed constitutively active promoters. Tethered repression was not dependent on the identity of the basal promoter elements, the presence of a distal enhancer, or the distance separating the binding sites from the promoter. These results suggest that Nab1 repression is not specific to particular activators and that Nab1 is an active repressor that works by a direct mechanism. We identified a bipartite-like nuclear localization sequence and localized the repression function to the Nab conserved domain 2 (NCD2), a region found in the carboxy-terminal half of all Nab proteins. Three small regions of homology between Nab1 and previously characterized corepressors, Dr1 and E1b 55-kDa protein, were identified within NCD2. Replacement mutagenesis of residues conserved between these proteins interfered with Nab1 repression, although Nab1 does not function by the same mechanism as Dr1. The human NAB1 genomic locus was mapped to chromosome 2q32.3-33.