Transcriptional enhancer factor TEF-3 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 ''TEAD4''
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
This gene product is a member of the transcriptional enhancer factor (TEF) family of transcription factors, which contain the TEA/ATTS DNA-binding domain.
Members of the family in
mammals
A mammal () is a vertebrate animal of the class Mammalia (). Mammals are characterised by the presence of milk-producing mammary glands for feeding their young, a broad neocortex region of the brain, fur or hair, and three middle e ...
are
TEAD1,
TEAD2
TEAD2 (ETF, ETEF-1, TEF-4), together with TEAD1, defines a novel family of transcription factors, the TEAD family, highly conserved through evolution.
TEAD proteins were notably found in ''Drosophila'' (Scalloped), '' C. elegans'' (egl -44), '' ...
,
TEAD3
Transcriptional enhancer factor TEF-5 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''TEAD3'' gene.
Function
This gene product is a member of the transcriptional enhancer factor (TEF) family of transcription factors, which contain the TEA/ATTS ...
, TEAD4. TEAD4 is preferentially expressed in the
skeletal muscle
Skeletal muscle (commonly referred to as muscle) is one of the three types of vertebrate muscle tissue, the others being cardiac muscle and smooth muscle. They are part of the somatic nervous system, voluntary muscular system and typically are a ...
, and binds to the M-CAT regulatory element found in promoters of muscle-specific genes to direct their gene expression. Alternatively spliced transcripts encoding distinct
isoforms
A protein isoform, or "protein variant", is a member of a set of highly similar proteins that originate from a single gene and are the result of genetic differences. While many perform the same or similar biological roles, some isoforms have uniqu ...
, some of which are translated through the use of a non-AUG (UUG)
initiation codon, have been described for this gene.
Gene ablation experiments in
mice
A mouse (: mice) is a small rodent. Characteristically, mice are known to have a pointed snout, small rounded ears, a body-length scaly tail, and a high breeding rate. The best known mouse species is the common house mouse (''Mus musculus' ...
(i.e. knockout mice) showed that TEAD4 is essential for the formation of blastocysts during preimplantation embryo development.
Although it was originally hypothesized to be essential for specification of
trophectoderm
The trophoblast (from Greek : to feed; and : germinator) is the outer layer of cells of the blastocyst. Trophoblasts are present four days after fertilization in humans. They provide nutrients to the embryo and develop into a large part of the pl ...
lineage, it was later shown that functional trophectoderm can be produced leading to formation of blastocysts under in vitro conditions that suppress oxidative stress.
Transcriptional coregulators, such as
WWTR1 (TAZ) bind to members in this transcription factor family.
References
Further reading
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External links
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Transcription factors
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