Transcription Factor EC (TFEC)

Zhao et al. (1993) identified in rat a transcriptional repressor with a basic helix-loop-helix and leucine zipper (bHLH/LZ) structure closely related to that in human microphthalmia-associated transcription factor (MITF) and TFE3. By screening a THP-1 human monocytic leukemia cell line with an MITF cDNA fragment coding for the bHLH/LZ region, Yasumoto and Shibahara (1997) cloned a TFEC cDNA, which they symbolized TFECL. The TFEC cDNA encodes a deduced 347-amino acid protein with a bHLH/LZ region that binds a CANNTG motif, known as an E box, and shares high homology to rat TFEC, mouse Tfe3, and MITF. Human TFEC contains an acidic domain that corresponds to a transcriptional activation domain of TFE3, but its equivalent region is deleted in rat TFEC.