| First Author | Kanno M | Year | 1995 |
| Journal | EMBO J | Volume | 14 |
| Issue | 22 | Pages | 5672-8 |
| PubMed ID | 8521824 | Mgi Jnum | J:30374 |
| Mgi Id | MGI:77887 | Doi | 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1995.tb00254.x |
| Citation | Kanno M, et al. (1995) mel-18, a Polycomb group-related mammalian gene, encodes a transcriptional negative regulator with tumor suppressive activity. EMBO J 14(22):5672-8 |
| abstractText | The mammalian mel-18/bmi-1 gene products share an amino acid sequence and a secondary structure, including a RING-finger motif, with the Drosophila Polycomb group (PcG) gene products Psc and Su(z)2, implying that they represent a gene family with related functions. As Drosophila PcG gene products are thought to function as transcriptional repressors by modifying chromatin structure, Mel-18/Bmi-1 might be expected to have similar activities. Here we have analyzed the function of mel-18 and found that Mel-18 acts as a transcriptional repressor via its target DNA sequence, 5'-GACTNGACT-3'. Interestingly, this binding sequence is found within regulatory or non-coding regions of various genes, including the c-myc, bcl-2 and Hox genes, suggesting diverse functions of mel-18 as the mammalian homolog of the PcG gene. We also demonstrate that mel-18 has tumor suppressor activity, in contrast to bmi-1, which has been defined as a proto-oncogene. |
