Activating transcription factor 6, also known as ATF6, is a
protein
Proteins are large biomolecules and macromolecules that comprise one or more long chains of amino acid residue (biochemistry), residues. Proteins perform a vast array of functions within organisms, including Enzyme catalysis, catalysing metab ...
that, in humans, is encoded by the ''ATF6''
gene
In biology, the word gene has two meanings. The Mendelian gene is a basic unit of heredity. The molecular gene is a sequence of nucleotides in DNA that is transcribed to produce a functional RNA. There are two types of molecular genes: protei ...
and is involved in the
unfolded protein response.
Function
ATF6 is an
endoplasmic reticulum
The endoplasmic reticulum (ER) is a part of a transportation system of the eukaryote, eukaryotic cell, and has many other important functions such as protein folding. The word endoplasmic means "within the cytoplasm", and reticulum is Latin for ...
(ER) stress-regulated transmembrane
transcription factor
In molecular biology, a transcription factor (TF) (or sequence-specific DNA-binding factor) is a protein that controls the rate of transcription (genetics), transcription of genetics, genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA, by binding t ...
that activates the transcription of ER molecules.
Accumulation of misfolded proteins in the Endoplasmic Reticulum results in the proteolytic cleavage of ATF6. The cytosolic portion of ATF6 will move to the nucleus and act as a transcription factor to cause the transcription of ER chaperones.
See also
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Activating transcription factor
Interactions
ATF6 has been shown to
interact with
YY1 and
Serum response factor.
References
Further reading
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External links
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Transcription factors
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