Transcriptional regulation of human abraxas brother protein 1 expression by yin yang 1

Abraxas brother protein 1 (ABRO1) is a subunit of the deubiquitinating enzyme BRCC36-containing isopeptidase complex and plays important roles in cellular responses to stress by interacting with its binding partners, such as ubiquitin-specific peptidase 7, p53, activating transcription factor 4, THAP-domain containing 5, and serine hydroxymethyltransferase. However, the transcriptional regulation of ABRO1 remains unexplored. In this study, we identified and characterized the core regulatory elements of the human ABRO1 gene and mapped them to the ABRO1 promoter region. Additionally, 5' rapid amplification of cDNA ends revealed that the transcriptional start site (TSS) was located -13 bp upstream from the start codon. Reporter gene, chromatin immunoprecipitation, and electrophoretic mobility shift assays demonstrated that ABRO1 transcription was regulated through cis-acting elements located in the region -89 to -59 bp upstream of the ABRO1 TSS and that these elements were targeted by yin yang 1 transcription factor (YY1). Moreover, YY1 overexpression increased human ABRO1 mRNA and protein expression, and small-interfering RNA-mediated downregulation of YY1 attenuated ABRO1 expression. These results suggested that YY1 positively regulated human ABRO1 expression by binding to cis-acting elements located in the ABRO1 TSS.