Nuclear DEAF-1-related (NUDR) Protein Contains a Novel DNA Binding Domain and Represses Transcription of the Heterogeneous Nuclear Ribonucleoprotein A2/B1 Promoter

Nuclear DEAF-1-related (NUDR) protein is a novel transcriptional regulator with sequence similarity to developmental and oncogenic proteins. NUDR protein deletions were used to localize the DNA binding domain between amino acids 167 and 368, and site-specific DNA photocross-linking indicated at least two sites of protein-DNA contact within this domain. The DNA binding domain contains a proline-rich region and a region with similarity to a Myc-type helix-loop-helix domain but does not include the zinc finger motif at the C terminus. Deoxyribonuclease I protection assays confirmed the presence of multiple NUDR binding motifs (TTC(C/G)G) in the heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein A2/B1 (hnRNP A2/B1) promoter and also in the 5′-untranslated region (UTR) of hNUDR cDNA. NUDR produced a 65–70% repression of the hnRNP A2/B1 promoter activity, and NUDR binding motifs in the 5′-UTR were found to mediate this repression. NUDR-dependent repression was also observed when the 5′-UTR of NUDR was placed onto a heterologous thymidine kinase promoter in an analogous 5′-UTR position but not when placed upstream of transcription initiation. These results suggest that NUDR may regulate the in vivo expression of hnRNP A2/B1 and NUDR genes and imply that inactivation of NUDR could contribute to the overexpression of hnRNP A2/B1 observed in some human cancers.