Activating transcription factor, ATF, is a group of

bZIP The Basic Leucine Zipper Domain (bZIP domain) is found in many DNA binding eukaryotic proteins. One part of the domain contains a region that mediates sequence specific DNA binding properties and the leucine zipper that is required to hold tog ...

transcription factor In molecular biology, a transcription factor (TF) (or sequence-specific DNA-binding factor) is a protein that controls the rate of transcription of genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA, by binding to a specific DNA sequence. The fu ...

s, which act as homodimers or heterodimers with a range of other bZIP factors. First, they have been described as members of the CREB/ATF family, whereas it turned out later that some of them might be more similar to AP-1-like factors such as

c-Jun Transcription factor Jun is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''JUN'' gene. c-Jun, in combination with protein c-Fos, forms the AP-1 early response transcription factor. It was first identified as the Fos-binding protein p39 and only lat ...

c-Fos Protein c-Fos is a proto-oncogene that is the human homolog of the retroviral oncogene v-fos. It is encoded in humans by the ''FOS'' gene. It was first discovered in rat fibroblasts as the transforming gene of the FBJ MSV (Finkel–Biskis–Jinkin ...

. In general, ATFs are known to respond to extracellular signals and this suggests an important role that they have in maintaining homeostasis. Some of these ATFs, such as ATF3, ATF4, and ATF6 are known to play a role in stress responses. Another example of ATFs function would be ATFx that can suppress apoptosis. Genes include

ATF1 Cyclic AMP-dependent transcription factor ATF-1 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''ATF1'' gene. This gene encodes an activating transcription factor, which belongs to the ATF subfamily and bZIP (basic-region leucine zipper) family. ...

ATF2 Activating transcription factor 2, also known as ATF2, is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the ''ATF2'' gene. Function This gene encodes a transcription factor that is a member of the leucine zipper family of DNA-binding proteins. This ...

ATF3 Cyclic AMP-dependent transcription factor ATF-3 is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the ''ATF3'' gene. Function Activating transcription factor 3 is a member of the mammalian activation transcription factor/cAMP responsive element-bind ...

ATF4 Activating transcription factor 4 (tax-responsive enhancer element B67), also known as ATF4, is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''ATF4'' gene. Function This gene encodes a transcription factor that was originally identified as a wi ...

ATF5 Activating transcription factor 5, also known as ATF5, is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the ''ATF5'' gene. Function First described by Nishizawa and Nagata, ATF5 has been classified as a member of the activating transcription factor ...

ATF6 Activating transcription factor 6, also known as ATF6, is a protein that, in humans, is encoded by the ''ATF6'' gene and is involved in the unfolded protein response. Function ATF6 is an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress-regulated transmembra ...

ATF7 Cyclic AMP-dependent transcription factor ATF-7 is a protein that in humans is encoded by the ''ATF7'' gene. Homonym In 2001, Peters et al. published a paper showing that ATF-7, a Novel bZIP Protein, interacts with PTP4A1. This ATF-7 is actu ...

, ATFx.

References

External links

* Transcription factors {{protein-stub