Cbp/p300 Interacting Transactivator, With Glu/Asp Rich Carboxy Terminal Domain 3 (CITED3)

Two closely related but distinct CITED3 genes, gcCited3a and gcCited3b, from the hypoxia-tolerant grass carp. The deduced gcCITED3a and gcCITED3b proteins share 72% amino acid identity, and are highly similar to the CITED3 proteins of both chicken and Xenopus. Northern blot analysis indicates that the mRNA expression of gcCited3a and gcCited3b is strongly induced by hypoxia in the kidney and liver, respectively. Luciferase reporter assays demonstrated that both gene promoters are activated by gcHIF-1. Further, ChIP assays comparing normal and hypoxic conditions reveal differential in vivo binding of gcHIF-1 to both gene promoters in kidney and liver tissues. HRE-luciferase reporter assays demonstrated that both gcCITED3a and gcCITED3b proteins inhibit gcHIF-1 transcriptional activity, and GST pull-down assays confirmed that both proteins bind specifically to the CH1 domain of the grass carp p300 protein.