Distinct recruitment of E2F family members to specific E2F-binding sites mediates activation and repression of the E2F1 promoter.

The activity of E2F transcription factors plays a crucial role in mammalian cell-cycle progression and is controlled by physical association with the pocket proteins (pRb and its related p107 and p130). The E2F1 promoter, which contains two overlapping E2F-binding sites, is activated at the G1/S transition in an E2F-dependent manner. Mutational experiments have shown that the distal E2F-binding site on the E2F1 promoter is required for transcriptional repression in the G0 phase, whereas the proximal E2F-binding site contributes to transcriptional activation at the G1/S boundary. Consistent with these results, chromatin immunoprecipitation assays have revealed that the E2F4/p130 repressor complex specifically binds to the distal E2F-binding site, whereas E2F1 and E2F3 activators preferentially bind to the proximal E2F-binding site. The assays also showed that the specific binding of E2F4/p130 complex to the distal site was dramatically impaired by a mutation introduced into the contiguous repression site (cell Cycle gene Homology Region; CHR). Taken together, these findings indicate that the two E2F-binding sites play distinct roles in the regulation of E2F1 transcription by interacting with different sets of E2F members and cooperating with the contiguous repressor element.