We show that the centrosome- and microtubule-regulating protein γ-tubulin interacts with E2 promoter binding factors (E2Fs) to modulate E2F transcriptional activity and thereby control cell cycle progression. γ-Tubulin contains a C-terminal signal that results in its translocation to the nucleus during late G1 to early S phase. γ-Tubulin mutants showed that the C terminus interacts with the transcription factor E2F1 and that the E2F1–γ-tubulin complex is formed during the G1/S transition, when E2F1 is transcriptionally active. Furthermore, E2F transcriptional activity is altered by reduced expression of γ-tubulin or by complex formation between γ-tubulin and E2F1, E2F2, or E2F3, but not E2F6. In addition, the γ-tubulin C terminus encodes a DNA-binding domain that interacts with E2F-regulated promoters, resulting in γ-tubulin-mediated transient activation of E2Fs. Thus, we report a novel mechanism regulating the activity of E2Fs, which can help explain how these proteins affect cell cycle progression in mammalian cells.—Höög, G., Zarrizi, R., von Stedingk, K., Jonsson, K., Alvarado-Kristensson, M. Nuclear localization of γ-tubulin affects E2F transcriptional activity and S-phase progression.
Background: γ-Tubulin moderates the expression of E2F-regulated promoters by direct binding to DNA.Results: RB1 and γ-tubulin proteins moderate each other's expression by binding to their respective gene promoters.Conclusion: Reduction of γ-tubulin protein levels in tumors with nonfunctional RB1 leads to induction of apoptosis.Significance: The RB1/γ-tubulin signal network can be considered as a new target for cancer treatment.
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