Octamer transcription factors are a
family
Family (from ) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). It forms the basis for social order. Ideally, families offer predictabili ...
of
transcription factor
In molecular biology, a transcription factor (TF) (or sequence-specific DNA-binding factor) is a protein that controls the rate of transcription (genetics), transcription of genetics, genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA, by binding t ...
s which binds to the "ATTTGCAT"
DNA sequence
A nucleic acid sequence is a succession of bases within the nucleotides forming alleles within a DNA (using GACT) or RNA (GACU) molecule. This succession is denoted by a series of a set of five different letters that indicate the order of the nu ...
. Their
DNA-binding domain is a
POU domain.
There are eight Octamer proteins in humans (Oct1–11),
[Oct-5 and Oct-10 are not found in humans, while Oct-3 and Oct-4 were identified as the same protein.] which have been renamed according to the different classes of POU domain.
Octamer-3/4, also known as
POU5F1, is one of the
Yamanaka factors, which are critical for the maintenance and
self-renewal of
embryonic stem cells.
On the other hand, Oct-1 and Oct-2 are widely expressed in adult tissues.
Oct-7, 8 and 9, also known as "brain factors", are predominantly expressed in the
central nervous system
The central nervous system (CNS) is the part of the nervous system consisting primarily of the brain, spinal cord and retina. The CNS is so named because the brain integrates the received information and coordinates and influences the activity o ...
during
embryonic development
In developmental biology, animal embryonic development, also known as animal embryogenesis, is the developmental stage of an animal embryo. Embryonic development starts with the fertilization of an egg cell (ovum) by a sperm, sperm cell (spermat ...
.
Oct-6 expression is confined to embryonic stem cells and the developing nervous system and skin, while Oct-11 is also involved in skin differentiation.
Human Oct proteins
*
Oct-1 -
*
Oct-2 -
*
Oct-3/4 –
*
Oct-6 –
*
Oct-7 –
*
Oct-8 –
*
Oct-9 –
*
Oct-11 –
References
External links
*
{{Transcription factors, g3
POU-domain proteins
Protein families