Metal Response Element Binding Transcription Factor 2 (MTF2)

Using a metal-response element (MRE) in a yeast 1-hybrid screen of a mouse T-cell cDNA library, Inouye et al. (1994) cloned mouse Mtf2, which they designated M96. The deduced 428-amino acid protein contains 22 cysteine and 13 histidine residues in its N-terminal portion, which could form 4 zinc finger-like structures, and 2 lysine-rich regions in its C-terminal portion. Northern blot analysis detected 1.4- and 1.8-kb transcripts in mouse fibroblasts. Expression was also detected in human and rat cell lines. In vitro transcription and translation resulted in a protein with an apparent molecular mass of 45 kD.Using gel mobility-shift assays, Inouye et al. (1994) demonstrated that recombinant mouse Mtf2 bound to synthetic MREs derived from the human MT2A promoter in a zinc-dependent manner.