Identification of a novel family of ankyrin repeats containing cofactors for p160 nuclear receptor coactivators

Members of the p160 nuclear receptor coactivators interact with liganded nuclear receptors to enhance transcription of target genes. Here we identify a novel family of ankyrin repeats containing cofactors (ANCOs) that interact with the p160 coactivators. ANCO-1 binds to the conserved Per-Arnt-Sim (PAS) region of the p160 coactivators. It encodes a large nuclear protein with five ankyrin repeats, and parts of its sequences have been reported as nasopharyngeal carcinoma susceptibility protein and medulloblastoma antigen. Immunofluorescence staining reveals discrete nuclear foci of ANCO-1 that are distinct from known nuclear structures. Intriguingly, ANCO-1 also colocalizes and interacts with histone deacetylases. Transient reporter gene assay shows that ANCO-1 expression inhibits ligand-dependent transactivation by both steroid and nonsteroid nuclear receptors. Taken together, we have identified a novel family of ankyrin repeats containing cofactors that may recruit histone deacetylases to the p160 coactivators/nuclear receptor complex to inhibit ligand-dependent transactivation.