A new cAMP response element in the transcribed region of the human c-fos gene.

In NIH 3T3 cells the c-fos gene is induced rapidly and transiently by cAMP. As shown by the analysis of 3T3 cells stably transfected with promoter mutants of the human c-fos gene this induction does not depend on the dyad symmetry element (position -320 to -300), but involves at least two other non-related sites: an element located around position -60 resembling the cAMP response element of the fibronectin and somatostatin genes (which has been described before), and an element located between positions +18 and +38. Destruction of one or the other element in the c-fos gene reduces cAMP inducibility. The cAMP response of c-fos promoter CAT gene constructs also depends on these elements in transient transfection assays. When cloned in front of the albumin TATA box, both elements independently mediate cAMP inducibility. These elements do not bind the same protein as shown in gel retardation analyses, suggesting that two different cAMP inducible factors mediate the activation of the c-fos gene by cAMP.     

Molecular cloning and characterization of the promoter region of the mouse regulatory subunit RII beta of type II cAMP-dependent protein kinase

The promoter and exon 1 of the regulatory subunit (RII beta) of type II cAMP-dependent protein kinase were isolated from a mouse genomic library. The 5'-flanking DNA lacked TATA and CAAT sites but contained GC rich regions typically found in constitutively expressed house keeping genes. Fusion gene constructs, containing RII beta 5'-flanking sequences and the bacterial CAT structural gene, were transfected into NB2a neuroblastoma cells and CHO cells. The NB2a cells expressed high levels of CAT activity. CHO cells expressed CAT activity at 5% of the level seen in the NB2a cells. Transfection of deletion constructs into both cell lines was used to define the core promoter and enhancer elements. The core promoter was situated between bp -291/-121. An enhancer element was located between bp -1426/-1018.     

On the mechanism for efficient repression of the interleukin-6 promoter by glucocorticoids: enhancer, TATA box, and RNA start site (Inr motif) occlusion.

The feedback inhibition of interleukin-6 (IL-6) gene expression by glucocorticoids represents a regulatory link between the endocrine and immune systems. The mechanism of the efficient repression of the IL-6 promoter by dexamethasone (Dex) was investigated in HeLa cells transiently transfected with plasmid constructs containing different IL-6 promoter elements linked to the herpesvirus thymidine kinase gene (tk) promoter and the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene (cat) and cotransfected with cDNA vectors constitutively expressing either the active wild-type or inactive mutant human glucocorticoid receptor (GR). The induction by interleukin-1, tumor necrosis factor, phorbol ester, or forskolin of IL-6-tk-cat chimeric constructs containing a single copy of the IL-6 DNA segment from -173 to -151 (MRE I) or from -158 to -145 (MRE II), which derive from within the multiple cytokine- and second-messenger-responsive enhancer (MRE) region, was strongly repressed by Dex in a wild-type GR-dependent fashion irrespective of the inducer used. The induction by pseudorabies virus of an IL-6 construct containing the IL-6 TATA box and the RNA start site ("initiator" or Inr element) but not the MRE region was also repressed by Dex in the presence of wild-type GR. DNase I footprinting showed that the purified DNA-binding fragment of GR bound across the MRE, the TATA box, and the Inr site in the IL-6 promoter; this footprint overlapped that produced by proteins present in nuclear extracts from uninduced or induced HeLa cells. Imperfect palindromic nucleotide sequence motifs moderately related to the consensus GR-responsive element (GRE) motif were present at the Inr, the TATA box, and the MRE II site in the IL-6 promoter; although MRE I and a GR-binding site between -201 and -210 in IL-6 both lacked a discernible inverted repeat motif, their sequences showed considerable similarity with negative GRE sequences in other Dex-repressed genes. Surprisingly, chimeric genes containing MRE II, which lacks a recognizable GACGTCA cyclic AMP- and phorbol ester-responsive motif, were strongly induced by both phorbol ester and forskolin, suggesting that MRE II (ACATTGCACAATCT) may be the prototype of a novel cyclic AMP- and phorbol ester-responsive element. Taken together, these observations suggest that ligand-activated GR represses the IL-6 gene by occlusion not only of the inducible IL-6 MRE enhancer region but also of the basal IL-6 promoter elements.     

Negative regulatory element associated with potentially functional promoter and enhancer elements in the long terminal repeats of endogenous murine leukemia virus-related proviral sequences.

Three series of recombinant DNA clones were constructed, with the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene as a quantitative indicator, to examine the activities of promoter and enhancer sequence elements in the 5' long terminal repeat (LTR) of murine leukemia virus (MuLV)-related proviral sequences isolated from the mouse genome. Transient CAT expression was determined in mouse NIH 3T3, human HT1080, and mink CCL64 cultured cells transfected with the LTR-CAT constructs. The 700-base-pair (bp) LTRs of three polytropic MuLV-related proviral clones and the 750-bp LTRs of four modified polytropic proviral clones, in complete structures either with or without the adjacent downstream sequences, all showed very little or negligible activities for CAT expression, while ecotropic MuLV LTRs were highly active. The MuLV-related LTRs were divided into three portions and examined separately. The 3' portion of the MuLV-related LTRs that contains the CCAAC and TATAA boxes was found to be a functional promoter, being about one-half to one-third as active as the corresponding portion of ecotropic MuLV LTRs. A MboI-Bg/II fragment, representing the distinct 190- to 200-bp inserted segment in the middle, was found to be a potential enhancer, especially when examined in combination with the simian virus 40 promoter in CCL64 cells. A PstI-MboI fragment of the 5' portion, which contains the protein-binding motifs of the enhancer segment as well as the upstream LTR sequences, showed moderate enhancer activities in CCL6 cells but was virtually inactive in NIH 3T3 cells and HT1080 cells; addition of this fragment to the ecotropic LTR-CAT constructs depressed CAT expression. Further analyses using chimeric LTR constructs located the presence of a strong negative regulatory element within the region containing the 5' portion of the enhancer and the immediate upstream sequences in the MuLV-related LTRs.     

Regulation of the rat alpha-fetoprotein gene expression in liver. Both the promoter region and an enhancer element are liver-specific and negatively modulated by dexamethasone.

Cis-acting elements involved in the control of rat alpha-fetoprotein gene expression in the liver and its modulation by glucocorticoid hormones were detected after transfection of chloramphenicol acetyltransferase constructs and their transient expression into two hepatoma cell lines. The proximal promoter region (-324 to -15) was found to contain all the information necessary for tissue-specific expression. It is also involved in the negative gene modulation by glucocorticoids and includes an activating regulatory domain allowing efficient expression in the HepG2 cells. Three regions within 7 kilobase pairs of the 5' extragenic sequences are capable of stimulating the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase activity driven by the alpha-fetoprotein promoter sequence. One of these regions, at about -2.5 kilobase pairs, contains a short indivisible 170-base pair DNA element that fulfills all the criteria of a tissue-specific enhancer, i.e. orientation and position independence, as well as cell-specific stimulation of gene expression driven by a homologous or heterologous promoter. The enhancing properties of this element are totally abolished by glucocorticoids. DNase I footprinting experiments indicate that several rat liver nuclear proteins interact with this enhancer element.     

Specificity of a retinoic acid response element in the phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase gene promoter: consequences of both retinoic acid and thyroid hormone receptor binding.

The ability of a retinoic acid (RA) response element (RARE) in the phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) gene promoter to mediate effects of either RA or thyroid hormone (T3) on gene expression was studied. Fusion gene constructs consisting of PEPCK promoter sequences ligated to the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter gene were used for this analysis. While T3 induced CAT expression to a small degree (about twofold) when such constructs were transiently transfected into H4IIE rat hepatoma cells, along with an expression vector encoding the alpha subtype of the T3 receptor (TR), this effect was mediated by promoter sequences distinct from the PEPCK RARE. Although TRs were capable of binding the PEPCK RARE in the form of putative monomers, dimers, and heterodimers with RA receptors (RARs), this element failed to mediate any positive effect of T3 on gene expression. In contrast, the PEPCK RARE mediated six- to eightfold induction of CAT expression by RA. When TRs were coexpressed along with RARs in transfected H4IIE cells, this RA induction was substantially blunted in a T3-independent manner. This inhibitory effect may be due to the binding of nonfunctional TRs or TR-RAR heterodimers to the PEPCK RARE. A model is proposed to explain the previously observed in vivo effects of T3 on PEPCK gene expression.