Nuclear transcription factor Y subunit alpha 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 ''NFYA''
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 ...
.
Function
The protein encoded by this gene is one subunit of a trimeric complex NF-Y, forming a highly conserved transcription factor that binds to CCAAT motifs in the promoter regions in a variety of genes.
Subunit NFYA associates with a tight dimer composed of the NFYB and NFYC subunits, resulting in a trimer that binds to DNA with high specificity and affinity. The sequence specific interactions of the complex are made by the NFYA subunit, suggesting a role as the regulatory subunit. In addition, there is evidence of post-transcriptional regulation in this gene product, either by protein degradation or control of translation. Further regulation is represented by alternative splicing in the glutamine-rich activation domain, with clear tissue-specific preferences for the two isoforms.
NF-Y complex serves as a
pioneer factor by promoting
chromatin
Chromatin is a complex of DNA and protein found in eukaryote, eukaryotic cells. The primary function is to package long DNA molecules into more compact, denser structures. This prevents the strands from becoming tangled and also plays important r ...
accessibility to facilitate other co-localizing cell type-specific transcription factors.
NF-Y has also been implicated as a central player in
transcription start site (TSS) selection in
animals
Animals are multicellular, eukaryotic organisms in the biological kingdom Animalia (). With few exceptions, animals consume organic material, breathe oxygen, have myocytes and are able to move, can reproduce sexually, and grow from a ...
.
It safeguards the integrity of the nucleosome-depleted region and PIC localization at protein-coding gene
promoters.
Interactions
NFYA has been shown to
interact with
Serum response factor
Serum response factor, also known as SRF, is a transcription factor protein.
Function
Serum response factor is a member of the MADS (MCM1, Agamous, Deficiens, and SRF) box superfamily of transcription factors. This protein binds to the serum ...
and
ZHX1.
Structure
The atomic structure of the NFY heterotrimer in complex with dsDNA was resolved via X-ray crystallography
X-ray crystallography is the experimental science of determining the atomic and molecular structure of a crystal, in which the crystalline structure causes a beam of incident X-rays to Diffraction, diffract in specific directions. By measuring th ...
PDB ID 4awl
. Using one of the NFYA alpha helices
An alpha helix (or α-helix) is a sequence of amino acids in a protein that are twisted into a coil (a helix).
The alpha helix is the most common structural arrangement in the secondary structure of proteins. It is also the most extreme type of l ...
as a template, structure inspired stapled peptides were designed to disrupt the NFY heterotrimer formation by preventing NFYA from binding to the NFYB/C heterodimer
In biochemistry, a protein dimer is a macromolecular complex or multimer formed by two protein monomers, or single proteins, which are usually non-covalently bound. Many macromolecules, such as proteins or nucleic acids, form dimers. The word ...
.
References
Further reading
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External links
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{{Transcription factors, g0
Transcription factors