Review Function and Regulation of CREB Family Transcription Factors
Neuron, Vol. 35, 605–623, August 15, 2002, Copyright 2002 by Cell Press Function and Regulation Review of CREB Family Transcription Factors in the Nervous System Bonnie E. Lonze and David D. Ginty1 domain, which is consistent with the findings that these Department of Neuroscience factors can form both homo- and heterodimers, and Howard Hughes Medical Institute that each can bind to the same cis-regulatory element The Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine (reviewed in De Cesare et al., 1999; Mayr and Montminy, Baltimore, Maryland 21205 2001; Shaywitz and Greenberg, 1999). This element, the cAMP response element (CRE), consists of the palin- dromic consensus sequence TGACGTCA. While many CREB and its close relatives are now widely accepted CREB binding sites are comprised of variations of this as prototypical stimulus-inducible transcription fac- consensus motif, almost all harbor the core sequence tors. In many cell types, these factors function as ef- CGTCA. fector molecules that bring about cellular changes in While the bZIP domain mediates DNA binding and response to discrete sets of instructions. In neurons, dimerization, the remaining domains of CREB family a wide range of extracellular stimuli are capable of members serve to facilitate interactions with coactiva- activating CREB family members, and CREB-depen- tors and components of the transcriptional machinery dent gene expression has been implicated in complex that ultimately carry out RNA synthesis. The functional and diverse processes ranging from development to domains of CREB and its relatives (Foulkes et al., 1991; plasticity to disease. In this review, we focus on the Gonzalez et al., 1989; Hai et al., 1989; Hoeffler et al., current level of understanding of where, when, and 1988) are schematically represented in Figure 1.
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