• BMB Reports
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• v.43 no.12
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• pp.807-812
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• 2010

$NF{\kappa}B$ and ZAS3 are transcription factors that control important cellular processes including immunity, cell survival and apoptosis. Although both proteins bind the ${\kappa}B$-motif, they produce opposite physiological consequences; $NF{\kappa}B$ activates transcription, promotes cell growth and is often found to be constitutively expressed in cancer cells, while ZAS3 generally represses transcription, inhibits cell proliferation and is downregulated in some cancers. Here, we show that ZAS3 inhibits $NF{\kappa}B$-dependent transcription by competing with $NF{\kappa}B$ for the ${\kappa}B$-motif. Transient transfection studies show that N-terminal 645 amino acids is sufficient to repress transcription activated by $NF{\kappa}B$, and that the identical region also possesses intrinsic repression activity to inhibit basal transcription from a promoter. Finally, in vitro DNA-protein interaction analysis shows that ZAS3 is able to displace $NF{\kappa}B$ by competing with $NF{\kappa}B$ for the ${\kappa}B$-motif. It is conceivable that ZAS3 has therapeutic potential for controlling aberrant activation of $NF{\kappa}B$ in various diseases.

• BMB Reports
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• v.42 no.8
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• pp.506-510
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• 2009

The Toll signalling pathway in invertebrates is responsible for defense against Gram-positive bacteria and fungi, leading to the expression of antimicrobial peptides via NF-$\kappa$B-like transcription factors. Gram-negative binding protein 3 (GNBP3) detects beta-1,3-glucan, a fungal cell wall component, and activates a three step serine protease cascade for activation of the Toll signalling pathway. Here, we showed that the recombinant N-terminal domain of Tenebrio molitor GNBP3 bound to beta-1,3-glucan, but did not activate down-stream serine protease cascade in vitro. Reversely, the N-terminal domain blocked GNBP3-mediated serine protease cascade activation in vitro and also inhibited beta-1,3-glucan-mediated antimicrobial peptide induction in Tenebrio molitor larvae. These results suggest that the N-terminal GNBP homology domain of GNBP3 functions as a beta-1,3-glucan binding domain and the C-terminal domain of GNBP3 may be required for the recruitment of immediate down-stream serine protease zymogen during Toll signalling pathway activation.