Early B-Cell Factor 1 (EBF1)

Early B-cell factor (EBF) is a tissue-specific and differentiation stage-specific DNA-binding protein that participates in the regulation of the pre-B and B lymphocyte-specific MB1 gene. It is composed of two 62- to 65-kD subunits. Using partial amino acid sequences of Ebf to isolate mouse pre-B-cell cDNAs encoding Ebf, the predicted 591-amino acid protein has 2 functional domains: an N-terminal cysteine-rich region essential for DNA binding, and a C-terminal dimerization region containing two 15-amino acid repeats with similarity to the dimerization domains of basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) proteins. The calculated molecular mass of the encoded Ebf protein is 64.4 kD.