Inhibition of p300/CBP by Early B-Cell Factor

Abstract

Early B-cell factor (EBF) is a DNA binding protein required for early B-cell development. It activates transcription of several B-cell-specific genes, including the λ5 gene, which encodes a protein necessary for signaling by the pre-B-cell receptor. In an effort to understand the mechanism by which EBF activates transcription, we examined its interaction with the coactivator protein p300/CBP. We found that two domains of EBF each bind the histone acetyltransferase (HAT)/CH3 domain of p300/CBP both in vitro and in vivo. Surprisingly, transcriptional activation by EBF was not sensitive to E1A, a potent p300/CBP inhibitor. In fact, overexpressed EBF mimicked E1A by severely repressing the activity of several other transcription factors, including E47, a protein that acts cooperatively with EBF to promote transcription of the λ5 gene. This broad inhibitory profile correlated with EBF's ability to repress the HAT activity of p300/CBP in vivo and in vitro. However, such a repressed complex is not likely to form at the λ5 promoter in vivo since (i) EBF could not bind p300/CBP and DNA simultaneously and (ii) the cooperativity imparted by E47 was sensitive to E1A. Our data reveal an intriguing inhibitory property of EBF—a property shared only by E1A, Twist, Pu.1, and the Hox family of homeodomain proteins—and suggest that E47 and EBF play distinct roles during λ5 promoter activation.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Gerd Blobel and Shara Kabak for critical reading of the manuscript and members of the Kadesch lab for valuable input throughout the course of this work. We are also indebted to Debu Chakravarti for supplying reagents and helping with the p300 HAT assays.

This work was supported by funds from the National Institutes of Health (AI 36878 and DK52558, to T.K.).