scholarly journals Nuclear receptor phosphorylation in xenobiotic signal transduction

2020 ◽  
Vol 295 (45) ◽  
pp. 15210-15225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Masahiko Negishi ◽  
Kaoru Kobayashi ◽  
Tsutomu Sakuma ◽  
Tatsuya Sueyoshi

Nuclear pregnane X receptor (PXR, NR1I2) and constitutive active/androstane receptor (CAR, NR1I3) are nuclear receptors characterized in 1998 by their capability to respond to xenobiotics and activate cytochrome P450 (CYP) genes. An anti-epileptic drug, phenobarbital (PB), activates CAR and its target CYP2B genes, whereas PXR is activated by drugs such as rifampicin and statins for the CYP3A genes. Inevitably, both nuclear receptors have been investigated as ligand-activated nuclear receptors by identifying and characterizing xenobiotics and therapeutics that directly bind CAR and/or PXR to activate them. However, PB, which does not bind CAR directly, presented an alternative research avenue for an indirect ligand-mediated nuclear receptor activation mechanism: phosphorylation-mediated signal regulation. This review summarizes phosphorylation-based mechanisms utilized by xenobiotics to elicit cell signaling. First, the review presents how PB activates CAR (and other nuclear receptors) through a conserved phosphorylation motif located between two zinc fingers within its DNA-binding domain. PB-regulated phosphorylation at this motif enables nuclear receptors to form communication networks, integrating their functions. Next, the review discusses xenobiotic-induced PXR activation in the absence of the conserved DNA-binding domain phosphorylation motif. In this case, phosphorylation occurs at a motif located within the ligand-binding domain to transduce cell signaling that regulates hepatic energy metabolism. Finally, the review delves into the implications of xenobiotic-induced signaling through phosphorylation in disease development and progression.

2000 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 1855-1867 ◽  
Author(s):  
Shih-Ming Huang ◽  
Michael R. Stallcup

ABSTRACT Transcriptional activation by nuclear hormone receptors is mediated by the 160-kDa family of nuclear receptor coactivators. These coactivators associate with DNA-bound nuclear receptors and transmit activating signals to the transcription machinery through two activation domains. In screening for mammalian proteins that bind the C-terminal activation domain of the nuclear receptor coactivator GRIP1, we identified a new variant of mouse Zac1 which we call mZac1b. Zac1 was previously discovered as a putative transcriptional activator involved in regulation of apoptosis and the cell cycle. In yeast two-hybrid assays and in vitro, mZac1b bound to GRIP1, to CREB-binding protein (CBP) and p300 (which are coactivators for nuclear receptors and other transcriptional activators), and to nuclear receptors themselves in a hormone-independent manner. In transient-transfection assays mZac1b exhibited a transcriptional activation activity when fused with the Gal4 DNA binding domain, and it enhanced transcriptional activation by the Gal4 DNA binding domain fused to GRIP1 or CBP fragments. More importantly, mZac1b was a powerful coactivator for the hormone-dependent activity of nuclear receptors, including androgen, estrogen, glucocorticoid, and thyroid hormone receptors. However, with some reporter genes and in some cell lines mZac1b acted as a repressor rather than a coactivator of nuclear receptor activity. Thus, mZac1b can interact with nuclear receptors and their coactivators and play both positive and negative roles in regulating nuclear receptor function.


2002 ◽  
Vol 65 (4) ◽  
pp. 1780-1788 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yoko Hirata ◽  
Michael Whalin ◽  
David D. Ginty ◽  
Jun Xing ◽  
Michael E. Greenberg ◽  
...  

2003 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 197-211 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Chopin-Delannoy ◽  
S Thenot ◽  
F Delaunay ◽  
E Buisine ◽  
A Begue ◽  
...  

The orphan receptors Rev-erbalpha and Rev-erbbeta are members of the nuclear receptors superfamily and act as transcriptional repressors. Rev-erbalpha is expressed with a robust circadian rhythm and is involved in liver metabolism through repression of the ApoA1 gene, but no role has been yet defined for Rev-erbbeta. To gain better understanding of their function and mode of action, we characterized the proteins encoded by these two genes. Both Rev-erbalpha and Rev-erbbeta proteins were nuclear when transiently transfected in COS-1 cells. The major nuclear location signal (NLS) of Rev-erbalpha is in the amino-terminal region of the protein. Fusion of green fluorescent protein (GFP) to the amino terminus of Rev-erbalpha deletion mutants showed that the NLS is located within a 53 amino acid segment of the DNA binding domain (DBD). The homologous region of Rev-erbbeta fused to GFP also targeted the fusion protein to the nucleus, suggesting that the location of this NLS is conserved among all the Rev-erb group members. Interestingly, members of the phylogenetically closest nuclear orphan receptor group (ROR), which exhibit 58% amino acid identity with Rev-erb in the DBD, do not have their NLS located within the DBD. GFP/DBD. RORalpha or GFP/DBD.RORbeta remained cytoplasmic, in contrast to GFP/DBD. Rev-erb fusion proteins. Alignment of human Rev-erb and ROR DBD amino acid sequences predicted that the two basic residues, K167 and R168, located just upstream from the second zinc finger, could play a critical part in the nuclear localization of Rev-erb proteins. Substitution of these two residues with those found in ROR, in the GFP/DBD. Rev-erb context, resulted in cytoplasmic proteins. In contrast, the reverse mutation of the GFP/DBD. RORalpha towards the Rev-erbalpha residues targeted the fusion protein to the nucleus. Our data demonstrate that Rev-erb proteins contain a functional NLS in the DBD. Its location is unusual within the nuclear receptor superfamily and suggests that Rev-erb orphan receptors control their intracellular localization via a mechanism different from that of other nuclear receptors.


Endocrinology ◽  
1997 ◽  
Vol 138 (10) ◽  
pp. 4138-4146 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yanzhuang Li ◽  
Lester F. Lau

Abstract ACTH treatment of Y1 adrenocortical cells induces the synthesis of Nur77, an orphan nuclear receptor that can act as a potent trans-activator for such genes as 21-hydroxylase (CYP21). Nur77 has thus been proposed to be a mediator of ACTH action in activating the expression of genes that encode steroidogenic enzymes. Here we show that ACTH regulates the activity of Nur77 at the level of phosphorylation. ACTH induces the synthesis of transcriptionally active, DNA-binding Nur77 that is unphosphorylated at Ser354, which resides within the DNA-binding domain. By contrast, the Nur77 population that is constitutively present in Y1 cells is phosphorylated at Ser354 and does not bind DNA. Substitutions of Ser354 with negatively charged amino acids, such as Asp or Glu, dramatically decreased Nur77 DNA-binding and trans-activation activities, whereas mutation to the neutral Ala had no effect. Aside from phosphorylation within the DNA-binding domain, ACTH treatment does not induce modifications in the N- and C-terminal domains of Nur77 that significantly affect activity. Although the specific kinases that phosphorylate Nur77 in vivo are not known, the mitogen-activated protein kinase/pp90RSK pathway is not critical to Nur77 regulation. We propose that ACTH treatment of Y1 cells results in modulation of the activities of both kinases and phosphatases, which, in turn, regulate the activities of such transcription factors as Nur77.


2004 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 59-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Claessens ◽  
Daniel T Gewirth

The nuclear receptors constitute a large family of ligand-inducible transcription factors. The control of many genetic pathways requires the assembly of these nuclear receptors in defined transcription-activating complexes within control regions of ligand-responsive genes. An essential step is the interaction of the receptors with specific DNA sequences, called hormone-response elements (HREs). These response elements position the receptors, and the complexes recruited by them, close to the genes of which transcription is affected. HREs are bipartite elements that are composed of two hexameric core half-site motifs. The identity of the response elements resides in three features: the nucleotide sequence of the two core motif half-sites, the number of base pairs separating them and the relative orientation of the motifs. The DNA-binding domains of nuclear receptors consist of two zinc-nucleated modules and a C-terminal extension. Residues in the first module determine the specificity of the DNA recognition, while residues in the second module are involved in dimerization. Indeed, nuclear receptors bind to their HREs as either homodimers or heterodimers. Depending on the type of receptor, the C-terminal extension plays a role in sequence recognition, dimerization, or both. The DNA-binding domain is furthermore involved in several other functions including nuclear localization, and interaction with transcription factors and co-activators. It is also the target of post-translational modifications. The DNA-binding domain therefore plays a central role, not only in the correct binding of the receptors to the target genes, but also in the control of other steps of the action mechanism of nuclear receptors.


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