Jun and Fos heterodimerize with ATFa, a member of the ATF/CREB family and modulate its transcriptional activity.

Three related clones encoding proteins (ATFa1, 2 and 3) with specific ATF/CRE DNA-binding activities have been isolated from HeLa cell cDNA libraries. All three isoforms have weak effects on the basal activity of the adenovirus E2a promoter. We present evidence suggesting that a C-terminal element of the ATFa molecules negatively interferes with the intrinsic activation function of these proteins. We also show that coexpression of ATFa with c-Jun, Jun-B or Jun-D stimulates ATFa-dependent reporter activity, while coexpression of c-Fos has no effect. Deletion analyses indicate that the metal-binding region of ATFa is dispensible for this effect, but that the domain comprising the leucine-zipper region of ATFa is required