Max (C-17) Antibody: sc-197

Max Background Information
It is now well established that the nature and relative abundance of individual subunits of different classes of transcription factors can positively or negatively regulate levels of gene expression. Myc proteins homodimerize and bind DNA poorly, if at all, at physiological levels. Max is a nuclear localized bHLH-Zip protein initially identified by screening a B cell expression library with the bHLH-Zip region of c-Myc. Max homodimers and the Myc-Max heterodimers bind the sequence CACGTG; however the binding of the hetero-dimeric complex is stronger than the Max homodimer. In contrast to Myc, which is highly regulated during progression through the cell cycle, Max is highly stable and is much more abundant than Myc. Two members of the bHLH-Zip protein family, designated Mad and Mxi1, homodimerize poorly but form heterodimeric complexes with Max that have opposing functions to Myc-Max heterodimers with respect to regulation of gene expression.