Liver specific transcription factors of the HNF3-, C/EBP- and LFB1-families interact with the A-activator binding site.

The A-activator binding site (AABS), present in the Xenopus A2 vitellogenin gene and several mammalian liver specifically expressed genes, interacts with different liver specific transcription factors including LFB1- and C/EBP-isobinders. We have now isolated some additional proteins interacting with AABS and show that they are HNF3-isobinders. The interactions between AABS and members of the HNF3 family are confirmed by binding studies using bacterially made HNF3-alpha protein. Thus a short DNA module of 24 bp is able to bind proteins of three different families of liver specific transcription factors. Competition experiments in the cell free in vitro transcription show that AABS dependent transcriptional activation is mediated by transcription factors belonging to at least two different families, the C/EBP- and the HNF3-isobinders. Being able to mediate the action of several distinct transactivators, AABS may thus be a prototype for a novel kind of tissue specific promoter modules with unique regulatory capacities.