摘 要：热休克转录因子4 (heat shock transcription factor 4, HSF4)是热休克转录因子HSF家族成员，近年发现HSF4除发挥调控热休克蛋白(heat shock protein, HSP)表达的功能外，亦直接或间接调节许多非热休克基因的表达，参与细胞生长发育及多种生理病理过程。现对9个物种的HSF4蛋白序列进行了多序列对比、进化痕迹分析和蛋白质特定功能区域分析，发现两个保守区域：一个是75~119保守区域，其部分位于文献报道的HSF家族的DNA结合区域，该区域呈现锤子状颈环结构，中部富含亲水氨基酸，提示该颈环结构有嵌入DNA结构内部解开其双链结构起转录调控的作用；另一保守区域在176~230，呈现卷曲螺旋(coil)结构，可能跟HSF4与DNA识别、结合、固定功能相关。对HSF4的生物信息学分析可以为其功能研究奠定理论基础。

Abstract: Heat shock transcription factor 4 (HSF4) is a member of HSF family. Recently, it was reported that HSF4 not only regulates the expression of heat shock protein (HSP), but also directly or indirectly controls many non-heat shock gene expressions, involving in cell growth and some physiological and pathological processes. Here, HSF4 protein sequences of 9 species were analyzed for alignment, evolution trace, and functional regions by software tools. Two conserved areas were found. One is the sequence aa 75~119, which is located at the DNA-binding region of the HSF family. This area presents a hammer shape structure rich in hydrophilic amino acids in the central area, indicating that the neck ring structure may be embed in DNA duplex to solve the double-stranded DNA structure and play a role in transcription regulation. Another conserved domain is aa 176~230, which presents the coil structure and is probably associated with identification, combination and fixation between HSF4 and DNA. Bioinformatics analysis of HSF4 can provide theoretical basis for the function research in the future.