MLX (gene) explained

Max-like protein X is a protein that in humans is encoded by the MLX gene.^{[1] [2]}

Function

The product of this gene belongs to the family of basic helix-loop-helix leucine zipper (bHLH-Zip) transcription factors. These factors form heterodimers with Mad proteins and play a role in proliferation, determination and differentiation. This gene product may act to diversify Mad family function by its restricted association with a subset of the Mad family of transcriptional repressors, namely Mad1 and Mad4. Alternatively spliced transcript variants encoding different isoforms have been identified for this gene.

Interactions

MLX (gene) has been shown to interact with MNT,^{[3] [4]} MXD1^{[3] [4]} and MLXIPL.^[3]

MLX must dimerize with MondoA^[5] or with MLXIPL (carbohydrate-responsive element-binding protein) to regulate target genes.^[6]

Further reading

• Rommens JM, Durocher F, McArthur J, Tonin P, LeBlanc JF, Allen T, Samson C, Ferri L, Narod S, Morgan K . Generation of a transcription map at the HSD17B locus centromeric to BRCA1 at 17q21 . Genomics . 28 . 3 . 530–42 . August 1995 . 7490091 . 10.1006/geno.1995.1185 .
• Bonaldo MF, Lennon G, Soares MB . Normalization and subtraction: two approaches to facilitate gene discovery . Genome Research . 6 . 9 . 791–806 . September 1996 . 8889548 . 10.1101/gr.6.9.791 . free .
• Hillier LD, Lennon G, Becker M, Bonaldo MF, Chiapelli B, Chissoe S, Dietrich N, DuBuque T, Favello A, Gish W, Hawkins M, Hultman M, Kucaba T, Lacy M, Le M, Le N, Mardis E, Moore B, Morris M, Parsons J, Prange C, Rifkin L, Rohlfing T, Schellenberg K, Bento Soares M, Tan F, Thierry-Meg J, Trevaskis E, Underwood K, Wohldman P, Waterston R, Wilson R, Marra M . Generation and analysis of 280,000 human expressed sequence tags . Genome Research . 6 . 9 . 807–28 . September 1996 . 8889549 . 10.1101/gr.6.9.807 . free .
• Billin AN, Eilers AL, Queva C, Ayer DE . Mlx, a novel Max-like BHLHZip protein that interacts with the Max network of transcription factors . The Journal of Biological Chemistry . 274 . 51 . 36344–50 . December 1999 . 10593926 . 10.1074/jbc.274.51.36344 . free .
• Meroni G, Cairo S, Merla G, Messali S, Brent R, Ballabio A, Reymond A . Mlx, a new Max-like bHLHZip family member: the center stage of a novel transcription factors regulatory pathway? . Oncogene . 19 . 29 . 3266–77 . July 2000 . 10918583 . 10.1038/sj.onc.1203634 . 17891130 .
• Billin AN, Eilers AL, Coulter KL, Logan JS, Ayer DE . MondoA, a novel basic helix-loop-helix-leucine zipper transcriptional activator that constitutes a positive branch of a max-like network . Molecular and Cellular Biology . 20 . 23 . 8845–54 . December 2000 . 11073985 . 86535 . 10.1128/MCB.20.23.8845-8854.2000 .
• Cairo S, Merla G, Urbinati F, Ballabio A, Reymond A . WBSCR14, a gene mapping to the Williams--Beuren syndrome deleted region, is a new member of the Mlx transcription factor network . Human Molecular Genetics . 10 . 6 . 617–27 . March 2001 . 11230181 . 10.1093/hmg/10.6.617 . free .
• Eilers AL, Sundwall E, Lin M, Sullivan AA, Ayer DE . A novel heterodimerization domain, CRM1, and 14-3-3 control subcellular localization of the MondoA-Mlx heterocomplex . Molecular and Cellular Biology . 22 . 24 . 8514–26 . December 2002 . 12446771 . 139889 . 10.1128/MCB.22.24.8514-8526.2002 .
• Merla G, Howald C, Antonarakis SE, Reymond A . The subcellular localization of the ChoRE-binding protein, encoded by the Williams-Beuren syndrome critical region gene 14, is regulated by 14-3-3 . Human Molecular Genetics . 13 . 14 . 1505–14 . July 2004 . 15163635 . 10.1093/hmg/ddh163 . free .
• Ma L, Tsatsos NG, Towle HC . Direct role of ChREBP.Mlx in regulating hepatic glucose-responsive genes . The Journal of Biological Chemistry . 280 . 12 . 12019–27 . March 2005 . 15664996 . 10.1074/jbc.M413063200 . free .
• Sans CL, Satterwhite DJ, Stoltzman CA, Breen KT, Ayer DE . MondoA-Mlx heterodimers are candidate sensors of cellular energy status: mitochondrial localization and direct regulation of glycolysis . Molecular and Cellular Biology . 26 . 13 . 4863–71 . July 2006 . 16782875 . 1489152 . 10.1128/MCB.00657-05 .

Notes and References

1. Bjerknes M, Cheng H . TCFL4: a gene at 17q21.1 encoding a putative basic helix-loop-helix leucine-zipper transcription factor . Gene . 181 . 1–2 . 7–11 . November 1996 . 8973301 . 10.1016/S0378-1119(96)00376-9 .
2. Web site: Entrez Gene: MLX MAX-like protein X.
3. Cairo S, Merla G, Urbinati F, Ballabio A, Reymond A . WBSCR14, a gene mapping to the Williams--Beuren syndrome deleted region, is a new member of the Mlx transcription factor network . Human Molecular Genetics . 10 . 6 . 617–27 . March 2001 . 11230181 . 10.1093/hmg/10.6.617 . free .
4. Meroni G, Cairo S, Merla G, Messali S, Brent R, Ballabio A, Reymond A . Mlx, a new Max-like bHLHZip family member: the center stage of a novel transcription factors regulatory pathway? . Oncogene . 19 . 29 . 3266–77 . July 2000 . 10918583 . 10.1038/sj.onc.1203634 . 17891130 .
5. Kaadige MR, Yang J, Wilde BR, Ayer DE . MondoA-Mlx transcriptional activity is limited by mTOR-MondoA interaction . . 35 . 1 . 101–110 . 2015 . 10.1128/MCB.00636-14 . 4295369 . 25332233.
6. Song Z, Yang H, Zhou L, Yang F . Glucose-Sensing Transcription Factor MondoA/ChREBP as Targets for Type 2 Diabetes: Opportunities and Challenges. . 20 . 20 . E5132 . 2019 . 10.3390/ijms20205132 . 6829382 . 31623194 . free.