THE TRANSCRIPTIONAL CONTROL PROTEINS C-MYB AND V-MYB CONTAIN A BASIC REGION DNA-BINDING MOTIF

A class of transcriptional control proteins, typified by c-Myb, are characterised by a highly conserved N-terminal DNA binding domain, which is composed of either 2 or 3 imperfect repeats of about 52 amino acids. A sequence homology search of the SWISSPROT protein sequence data bank with this region from mouse c-Myb has allowed us to identify an area near the C-terminus of repeat 2 that contains a short sequence motif, known as the basic region, which forms the DNA binding site in both leucine zipper and helix-loop-helix transcription factors. We therefore propose that this region of repeat 2 and the homologous part of repeat 3 will form the Myb DNA binding site.