The CR1 and CR3 domains of the adenovirus type 5 E1A proteins can independently mediate activation of ATF-2

The adenovirus 12S E1A protein can stimulate the activity of the c-jun promoter through a conserved region 1 (CR1)-dependent mechanism. The effect is mediated by two AP-1/ATF-like elements, jun1 and jun2, that preferentially bind c-Jun-ATF-2 heterodimers. In this study, we show that the ATF-2 component of the c-Jun-ATF-2 heterodimer is the primary target for 12S EIA: 12S EIA can enhance the transactivating activity of the N terminus of ATF-2 when fused to a heterologous DNA-binding domain, whereas the transactivating activity of the c-Jun N terminus is not significantly affected. Activation of the ATF-2 N terminus by 12S E1A is dependent on CR1. In the context of the 13S E1A protein, CR1 and CR3 can both contribute to activation of ATF-2, and their relative contributions are dependent on the cell type. In contrast to activation of ATF-2 by stress-inducing agents, CR1-dependent activation of ATF-2 was found not to depend strictly on the presence of threonines 69 and 71 in the N terminus of ATF-2, which are targets for phosphorylation by stress-activated protein kinases (SAPKs). In agreement with this observation, we did not observe phosphorylation of threonines 69 and 71 or constitutively enhanced SAPK activity in E1A- plus E1B-transformed cell lines. These data suggest that CR1 dependent activation of ATF-2 by 12S E1A does not require phosphorylation of threonines 69 and 71 by SAPK.