A Conserved α-Helical Motif Mediates the Binding of Diverse Nuclear Proteins to the SRC1 Interaction Domain of CBP

Abstract CREB-binding protein (CBP) and p300 contain modular domains that mediate protein-protein interactions with a wide variety of nuclear factors. A C-terminal domain of CBP (referred to as the SID) is responsible for interaction with the α-helical AD1 domain of p160 coactivators such as the steroid receptor coactivator (SRC1), and also other transcriptional regulators such as E1A, Ets-2, IRF3, and p53. Here we show that the pointed (PNT) domain of Ets-2 mediates its interaction with the CBP SID, and describe the effects of mutations in the SID on binding of Ets-2, E1A, and SRC1. In vitro binding studies indicate that SRC1, Ets-2 and E1A display mutually exclusive binding to the CBP SID. Consistent with this, we observed negative cross-talk between ERα/SRC1, Ets-2, and E1A proteins in reporter assays in transiently transfected cells. Transcriptional inhibition of Ets-2 or GAL4-AD1 activity by E1A was rescued by co-transfection with a CBP expression plasmid, consistent with the hypothesis that the observed inhibition was due to competition for CBP in vivo. Sequence comparisons revealed that SID-binding proteins contain a leucine-rich motif similar to the α-helix Aα1 of the SRC1 AD1 domain. Deletion mutants of E1A and Ets-2 lacking the conserved motif were unable to bind the CBP SID. Moreover, a peptide corresponding to this sequence competed the binding of full-length SRC1, Ets-2, and E1A proteins to the CBP SID. Thus, a leucine-rich amphipathic α-helix mediates mutually exclusive interactions of functionally diverse nuclear proteins with CBP.