FLASH acts as a co-activator of the transcription factor c-Myb and localizes to active RNA polymerase II foci

The c-Myb oncoprotein is a DNA-binding transcription factor with a key role in early stages of hematopoiesis. To expand our knowledge of partners cooperating with c-Myb, we performed a yeast two-hybrid screening with full-length c-Myb as bait. Here, we report FLICE-associated huge protein (FLASH)/CASP8AP2 as a novel Myb-interacting protein. We show that FLASH interacts with the DNA-binding domain of c-Myb and enhances c-Myb-dependent reporter activity and expression of endogenous c-Myb target genes. Chromatin immunoprecipitation assays revealed that FLASH and c-Myb both associate with the MYC promoter region as well as with the intronic enhancer of the c-Myb target gene ADA. Furthermore, siRNA knock-down of FLASH or c-Myb both result in a reduction of MYC and ADA expression. The co-activator effect is mediated through the C-terminal part of FLASH, which binds c-Myb. The FLASH-induced enhancement is comparable with the increase seen with the c-Myb co-activator p300. We find FLASH localized in discrete nuclear speckles in several cell lines, co-localized with c-Myb in active RNA polymerase II foci. These results imply a novel molecular mechanism of regulation of c-Myb activity. We propose that c-Myb cooperates with FLASH in foci associated with active RNA polymerase II, leading to enhancement of Myb-dependent gene activation.