A positive regulator of the ribosomal protein gene, beta factor, belongs to the ETS oncoprotein family.

The beta factor, which interacts with the rpL32 promoter, binds to the sequence 5'-GAGCCGGAAGTG and trans-activates this gene. Comparison of the DNA sequences bound by the beta factor with those bound by other known DNA-binding proteins revealed that the ETS proteins interact with similar DNA sequences. Consequently we have examined the relationship of the beta factor to the several ETS proteins so far reported. Antibody and oligonucleotide competition experiments, performed by using electrophoretic shift analysis, revealed that the beta factor contains ETS epitopes and that it is immunologically related to both of the GA-binding proteins (GABPs), implying that the beta factor may consist of two separate protein subunits.