Fos and Jun: oncogenic transcription factors

The fos and jun proto-oncogenes are members of the set of genes known as cellular immediate-early genes. Their expression is induced transiently by a great variety of extracellular stimuli associated with mitogenesis, differentiation processes or depolarization of neurons. They encode DNA binding proteins that form dimeric complexes through a leucine zipper structure that function as transcription factors. Continuous overexpression of fos or jun causes transformation of fibroblasts. Because of their ubiquitous expression it is believed that the target genes regulated by Fos and Jun are different in the many circumstances in which they are expressed. Thus, their functional specificity is likely to be regulated at several levels. We have uncovered several potential mechanisms that could contribute to their regulation. These include formation of a large number of heterodimeric complexes, post-translational modification by phosphorylation and a novel reduction/oxidation (redox) mechanism, presence of both positive and negative transcriptional domains and the ability of Fos and Jun to induce distinct bends in DNA structure.