Casein kinase II induces c-fos expression via the serum response element pathway and p67SRF phosphorylation in living fibroblasts.

Elevation of intracellular casein kinase II (CKII) levels through microinjection of purified CKII results in the rapid and transient induction of c-fos in quiescent rat embryo fibroblasts, and activation of quiescent cells by serum is accompanied by the nuclear relocation of endogenous CKII. The induction of c-fos by CKII is inhibited by coinjection of oligonucleotides corresponding to the sequence of the serum response element (SRE) present in the c-fos promoter, indicating that competitive displacement of positive factors from the endogenous c-fos SRE prevents c-fos induction by CKII. Furthermore, the expression of c-fos induced by either CKII injection or serum activation is also inhibited by microinjection of antibodies against the 67 kDa serum response factor (p67SRF) indicating the absolute requirement of p67SRF in this process. Finally, we show the specific phosphorylation of p67SRF in vivo following microinjection of CKII into quiescent cells. Together, these data strongly support that CKII induces c-fos expression through binding/activation of the phosphorylated p67SRF at the SRE sequence.     

A set of 4 nuclear proteins binds to a DNA sequence within the FOS promoter region

We investigated DNA-protein-interactions occurring in the promoter region of c-fos using two-dimensional electrophoresis and south-western-blotting. When nuclear extracts from the human glioblastoma cell line HeRoSV were tested for their DNA-binding behaviour to a 650 bp-fragment within the promoter region of c-fos, we found 4 proteins designated as 120/6.6, 75/5.4, 65/6.4 55/5.0 interacting with this fragment. An additional protein 60/6.0 was detected by using a digoxygenine-labelled probe. These observations let us to assume that beside the well characterized SRF and FOS-JUN proteins additional factors recognize the promoter sequence and may play a role in c-fos regulation.Abbreviations DRE direct repeat element - DSE dyad symmetry element - DTE Dithiothreitol - EGF Epidermal growth factor - FCS fetal calf serum - PA polyacrylamide - PMSF Phenylmethylsulfonyl fluoride - SDS Sodiumdodecylsulfate - SRF serum response factor - TCF ternary complex factor - TPA 12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol-13-acetate - 2D two-dimensional