Human Heart LIM Protein Has Transcription Activation Ability Related to LIM Domain 1

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Bin Zheng, Mei Han, and Jin-Kun Wen^*

Department of Biochemistry, Hebei Medical University, Shijiazhuang, 050017, China; fax: 86-311-8669-6826; E-mail: wjk@hebmu.edu.cn

^* To whom correspondence should be addressed.

Received July 21, 2007; Revision received August 7, 2007

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Human heart LIM (hhLIM), a muscle-specific expressed transcriptional coactivator of cardiac hypertrophy related gene, stimulates transcriptional activation of the ANF gene promoter in H9C2 cells. We revealed that the N-terminal half of hhLIM mediated this activation, in which the LIM domain 1 and protein kinase C phosphorylation site are important, especially the LIM domain 1. Further, mutagenesis of the conserved Cys in the LIM domain 1 abolished its ability to activate cardiac hypertrophy. These findings suggest that hhLIM is a typical LIM family member with powerful transcription activation.

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KEY WORDS: hhLIM, LIM domain, cardiac hypertrophy, ANF

DOI: 10.1134/S0006297908030188

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