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TY - JOUR AU - Neuberg, Manfred AU - Schuermann, Marcus AU - Hunter, John B. AU - Müller, Rolf PY - 1989 DA - 1989/04/01 TI - Two functionally different regions in Fos are required for the sequence-specific DNA interaction of the Fos/Jun protein complex JO - Nature SP - 589 EP - 590 VL - 338 IS - 6216 AB - THE products of the cellular and retroviral fos genes associate with other nuclear proteins1,2, among them the transcription factor APl/Jun (see ref. 3 for a review). The Fos/Jun complex binds to a specific symmetrical DNA recognition sequence3–9 (termed TRE), thus stimulating transcription of the respective gene3,9–12. Here, we show that two distinct regions in Fos are required for the formation of a Fos/Jun/TRE complex. These are the leucine zipper13, involved in the association with Jun14, and a directly adjacent basic region. Specific amino-acid substitutions in this basic, presumably α-helical, region abolish the interaction of Fos/Jun with the TRE but not the association of the two proteins. The functionally crucial amino acids are located in a region of Fos which is structurally similar to the putative DNA-binding sites in Jun and in the yeast transcriptional activator GCN4 (refs 15 and 16). SN - 1476-4687 UR - https://doi.org/10.1038/338589a0 DO - 10.1038/338589a0 ID - Neuberg1989 ER -