Transcription factor Sp1, also known as specificity protein 1* is a protein that in humans is encoded by the SP1 gene.[1]
The protein encoded by this gene is a zinc finger transcription factor that binds to GC-rich motifs of many promoters. The encoded protein is involved in many cellular processes, including cell differentiation, cell growth, apoptosis, immune responses, response to DNA damage, and chromatin remodeling. post-translational modifications such as phosphorylation, acetylation, O-GlcNAcylation, and proteolytic processing significantly affect the activity of this protein, which can be an activator or a repressor.[1]
In the SV40 virus, Sp1 binds to the GC boxes in the regulatory sequence of the genome.
SP1 belongs to the Sp/KLF family of transcription factors. The protein is 785 amino acids long, with a molecular weight of 81 kDa. The SP1 transcription factor contains two glutamine-rich activation domains at its N-terminus that are believed to be necessary for promoter trans-activation.[2] SP1 most notably contains three zinc finger protein motifs at its C-terminus, by which it binds directly to DNA and allows for interaction of the protein with other transcriptional regulators. Its zinc fingers are of the Cys2/His2 type and bind the consensus sequence 5'-(G/T)GGGCGG(G/A)(G/A)(C/T)-3' (GC box element).Some 12,000 SP-1 binding sites are found in the human genome.[3]
Sp1 has been used as a control protein to compare with when studying the increase or decrease of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor and/or the estrogen receptor, since it binds to both and generally remains at a relatively constant level.[4]
Recently, a putative promoter region in FTMT, and positive regulators