Cloning, mapping and expression of PEBP2αC, a third gene encoding the mammalian Runt domain

Abstract PEBP2/CBF is a heterodimeric transcription factor composed of α and β subunits. Previously, we reported two distinct mouse genes, PEBP2αA and PEBP2αB , which encode the α subunit. PEBP2αB is the homologue of human AML1 , encoding the acute myeloid leukemia 1 protein. AMLI and human PEBP2/CBFβ were detected independently at the breakpoints of two characteristic chromosome translocations observed frequently in two subtypes of acute myeloid leukemia. The PEBP2α proteins contain a 128-amino-acid (aa) region highly homologous to the Drosophila melanogaster segmentation gene runt . The evolutionarily conserved region, named the Runt domain, harbors DNA-binding and heterodimerizing activities. In this study, we identified the third Runt-domain-encoding gene, PEBP2αC , which maps to lp36.11-p36.13 in the human chromosome and encodes a 415-aa protein. PEBP2αC forms a heterodimer with PEBP2β, binds to the PEBP2 site and transactivates transcription, similar to PEBP2αA and PEBP2αB.