scholarly journals Molecular regulation of the human IL-3 gene: inducible T cell-restricted expression requires intact AP-1 and Elf-1 nuclear protein binding sites.

1993 ◽  
Vol 178 (5) ◽  
pp. 1681-1692 ◽  
Author(s):  
L R Gottschalk ◽  
D M Giannola ◽  
S G Emerson

Interleukin 3 (IL-3) is a hematopoietic stem-cell growth and differentiation factor that is expressed solely in activated T and NK cells. Studies to date have identified elements 5' to the IL-3 coding sequences that regulate its transcription, but the sequences that confer T cell-specific expression remain to be clearly defined. We have now identified DNA sequences that are required for T cell-restricted IL-3 gene transcription. A series of transient transfections performed with human IL-3-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) reporter plasmids in T and non-T cells revealed that a plasmid containing 319 bp of 5' flanking sequences was active exclusively in T cells. Deletion analysis revealed that T cell specificity was conferred by a 49-bp fragment (bp -319 to -270) that included a potential binding site for AP-1 transcription factors 6 bp upstream of a binding site for Elf-1, a member of the Ets family of transcription factors. DNaseI footprint and electrophoretic mobility shift assay analyses performed with MLA-144 T cell nuclear extracts demonstrated that this 49-bp region contains a nuclear protein binding region that includes consensus AP-1 and Elf-1 binding sites. In addition, extracts prepared from purified human T cells contained proteins that bound to synthetic oligonucleotides corresponding to the AP-1 and Elf-1 binding sites. In vitro-transcribed and -translated Elf-1 protein bound specifically to the Elf-1 site, and Elf-1 antisera competed and super shifted nuclear protein complexes present in MLA-144 nuclear extracts. Moreover, addition of anti-Jun family antiserum in electrophoretic mobility shift assay reactions completely blocked formation of the AP-1-related complexes. Transient transfection studies in MLA-144 T cells revealed that constructs containing mutations in the AP-1 site almost completely abolished CAT activity while mutation of the Elf-1 site or the NF-IL-3 site, a previously described nuclear protein binding site (bp. -155 to -148) in the IL-3 promoter, reduced CAT activity to < 25% of the activity given by wild-type constructs. We conclude that expression of the human IL-3 gene requires the AP-1 and Elf-1 binding sites; however, unlike other previously characterized cytokine genes such as IL-2, the AP-1 and Elf-1 factors can bind independently in the IL-3 gene.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

1993 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 5439-5449
Author(s):  
S E Yost ◽  
B Shewchuk ◽  
R Hardison

The 5'-flanking and internal regions of the rabbit alpha-globin gene, which constitute a CpG island, are required for enhancer-independent expression in transfected cells. In this study, electrophoretic mobility shift assays revealed that a battery of nuclear proteins from both erythroid and nonerythroid cells bind specifically to these regulatory regions. Assays based on exonuclease III digestion, methylation interference, and DNase I footprinting identified sequences bound by proteins in crude nuclear extracts and by purified transcription factor Sp1. In the 5' flank, recognition sites for the transcription factors alpha-IRP (positions -53 to -44 relative to the cap site), CP1 (-73 to -69), and Sp1 (-95 to -90) are bound by proteins in K562 cell nuclear extracts, as are three extended upstream regions. Two recognition sites for Sp1 in intron 1 are also bound both by proteins in crude nuclear extracts and by purified Sp1. The sequences CCAC in intron 2 and C5 in the 3'-untranslated region also bind proteins. A major binding site found in exon 1, TATGGCGC, matches in sequence and methylation interference pattern the binding site for nuclear protein YY1, and binding is inhibited through competition by YY1-specific oligonucleotides. The protein-binding sites flanking and internal to the rabbit alpha-globin gene may form an extended promoter.


1993 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 5439-5449 ◽  
Author(s):  
S E Yost ◽  
B Shewchuk ◽  
R Hardison

The 5'-flanking and internal regions of the rabbit alpha-globin gene, which constitute a CpG island, are required for enhancer-independent expression in transfected cells. In this study, electrophoretic mobility shift assays revealed that a battery of nuclear proteins from both erythroid and nonerythroid cells bind specifically to these regulatory regions. Assays based on exonuclease III digestion, methylation interference, and DNase I footprinting identified sequences bound by proteins in crude nuclear extracts and by purified transcription factor Sp1. In the 5' flank, recognition sites for the transcription factors alpha-IRP (positions -53 to -44 relative to the cap site), CP1 (-73 to -69), and Sp1 (-95 to -90) are bound by proteins in K562 cell nuclear extracts, as are three extended upstream regions. Two recognition sites for Sp1 in intron 1 are also bound both by proteins in crude nuclear extracts and by purified Sp1. The sequences CCAC in intron 2 and C5 in the 3'-untranslated region also bind proteins. A major binding site found in exon 1, TATGGCGC, matches in sequence and methylation interference pattern the binding site for nuclear protein YY1, and binding is inhibited through competition by YY1-specific oligonucleotides. The protein-binding sites flanking and internal to the rabbit alpha-globin gene may form an extended promoter.


1994 ◽  
Vol 14 (2) ◽  
pp. 1153-1159
Author(s):  
C Y Wang ◽  
A G Bassuk ◽  
L H Boise ◽  
C B Thompson ◽  
R Bravo ◽  
...  

The granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) gene has been studied extensively as a model system of transcriptional induction during T-lymphocyte activation. The GM-CSF gene is not expressed in resting peripheral blood T cells but is rapidly induced at the transcriptional level following activation through the cell surface T-cell receptor. A highly conserved 19-bp element located immediately 5' of the human GM-CSF TATA box (bp -34 to -52), herein called purine box 1 (PB1), has been shown to bind a T-cell nuclear protein complex and to be required for transcriptional induction of the GM-CSF gene following T-cell activation. The PB1 sequence motif is highly conserved in both human and murine GM-CSF genes. In this report, we demonstrate that the PB1 element alone confers inducibility on a heterologous promoter following transfection into human Jurkat T cells. In addition, we identify a major PB1 nuclear protein-binding complex that is not present in resting peripheral blood T cells but is rapidly induced following T-cell activation. Sequence analysis revealed that PB1 is composed of adjacent binding sites for Ets and AP-1 transcription factors. In vitro mutagenesis experiments demonstrated that both the Ets and AP-1 sites are required for binding of the inducible PB1 nuclear protein complex and for the transcriptional activity of this element and the GM-CSF promoter in activated T cells. Using antibodies specific for different Ets and AP-1 family members, we demonstrate that the major inducible PB1-binding activity present in activated T-cell nuclear extracts is composed of the Elf-1, c-Fos, and JunB transcription factors. Taken together, these results suggest that cooperative interactions between specific Ets and AP-1 family members are important in regulating inducible gene expression following T-cell activation.


1990 ◽  
Vol 10 (9) ◽  
pp. 4720-4727 ◽  
Author(s):  
I C Ho ◽  
J M Leiden

Transcription of human T-cell receptor (TCR) alpha genes is regulated by a T-cell-specific transcriptional enhancer that is located 4.5 kilobases 3' of the C alpha gene segment. Previous studies have demonstrated that this enhancer contains at least five nuclear protein-binding sites called T alpha 1 to T alpha 5. In the studies described in this report, we have determined the molecular requirements for human TCR alpha enhancer function. In vitro mutagenesis and deletion analyses demonstrated that full enhancer activity is retained in a 116-base-pair fragment containing the T alpha 1 and T alpha 2 nuclear protein-binding sites and that both of these sites are required for full enhancer function. Functional enhancer activity requires that the T alpha 1 and T alpha 2 binding sites be separated by more than 15 and fewer than 85 base pairs. However, the sequence of this spacer region and the relative phase of the two binding sites on the DNA helix do not affect enhancer function. Deletion and mutation analyses demonstrated that the T alpha 3 and T alpha 4 nuclear protein-binding sites are not necessary or sufficient for TCR alpha enhancer activity. However, a fragment containing these two sites was able to compensate for T alpha 1 and T alpha 2 mutations that otherwise abolished enhancer activity. Electrophoretic mobility shift analyses of the TCR alpha enhancer binding proteins revealed that the T alpha 1, T alpha 3, and T alpha 4 binding proteins are expressed in a variety of T-cell and non-T-cell tumor cell lines. In contrast, one of the two T alpha 2 binding activities was detected only in T-cell nuclear extracts. The activity of the TCR alpha enhancer does not appear to be regulated solely at the level of DNA methylation on that the enhancer sequences were found to be identically hypomethylated in B and T cells as compared with fibroblasts. Taken together, these results suggest that TCR alpha enhancer activity is regulated by the interaction of multiple T-cell-specific and ubiquitous nuclear proteins with partially redundant cis-acting enhancer elements that are hypomethylated in cells of the lymphoid lineage.


2008 ◽  
Vol 42 (3) ◽  
pp. 225-237 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yumiko Kashiwabara ◽  
Shigekazu Sasaki ◽  
Akio Matsushita ◽  
Koji Nagayama ◽  
Kenji Ohba ◽  
...  

Thyrotropin (TSH) is a heterodimer consisting of α and β chains, and the β chain (TSHβ) is specific to TSH. The coexistence of two transcription factors, PIT1 and GATA2, is known to be essential for TSHβ expression. Using kidney-derived CV1 cells, we investigated the role of PIT1 in the expression of Tshb gene. GATA2 Zn finger domain, which is known to recognize GATA-responsive elements (GATA-REs), is essential for cooperation by PIT1. Transactivation of TSHβ promoter requires PIT1-binding site upstream to GATA-REs (PIT1-US), and the spacing between PIT1-US and GATA-REs strictly determines the cooperation between PIT1 and GATA2. Moreover, truncation of the sequence downstream to GATA-REs enabled GATA2 to transactivate the TSHβ promoter without PIT1. The deleted region (nt −82/−52) designated as a suppressor region (SR) was considered to inhibit transactivation by GATA2. The cooperation of PIT1 with GATA2 was not conventional synergism but rather counteracted SR-induced suppression (derepression). The minimal sequence for SR was mapped to the 9 bp sequence downstream to GATA-REs. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay suggested that some nuclear factor exists in CV1 cells, which binds with SR and this interaction was blocked by recombinant PIT1. Our study indicates that major activator for the TSHβ promoter is GATA2 and that PIT1 protects the function of GATA2 from the inhibition by SR-binding protein.


1998 ◽  
Vol 72 (7) ◽  
pp. 5579-5588 ◽  
Author(s):  
Corinne Barat ◽  
Eric Rassart

ABSTRACT Cas-Br-E and Graffi are two murine viruses that induce myeloid leukemia in mice: while Cas-Br-E induces mostly non-T, non-B leukemia composed of very immature cells, Graffi causes exclusively a granulocytic leukemia (E. Rassart, J. Houde, C. Denicourt, M. Ru, C. Barat, E. Edouard, L. Poliquin, and D. Bergeron, Curr. Top. Microbiol. Immunol. 211:201–210, 1995). In an attempt to understand the basis of the myeloid specificity of these two retroviruses, we used DNase I footprinting analysis and gel mobility shift assays to identify a number of protein binding sites within the Cas-Br-E and Graffi U3 regions. Two protected regions include potential GATA binding sites. Methylation interference analysis with different hematopoietic nuclear extracts showed the importance of the G residues in these GATA sites, and supershift assays clearly identified the binding factors as GATA-1, GATA-2, and GATA-3. Transient assays with long terminal repeat (LTR)-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase constructs showed that these three GATA family members are indeed able to transactivate Cas-Br-E and Graffi LTRs. Thus, the availability and relative abundance of the various members of the GATA family of transcription factors in a given cell type could influence the transcriptional tissue specificity of murine leukemia viruses and hence their disease specificity.


1993 ◽  
Vol 13 (9) ◽  
pp. 5620-5628 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Sawada ◽  
D R Littman

A T-lymphocyte-specific enhancer located 13 kb upstream of the murine CD4 gene was recently shown to be required for the developmentally regulated expression of CD4. We have previously identified three nuclear protein binding sites in this enhancer; one of these sites, CD4-3, is essential for expression and contains two E-box core motifs (CANNTG) adjacent to each other in the sequence TAACAGGTGTCAGCTGGT. In electrophoretic mobility shift assays using the CD4-3 oligonucleotide as a probe, three nuclear protein complexes, termed CD4-3A, -B, and -C, were detected with nuclear extracts from T-cell lines. CD4-3A, which involves nuclear protein binding to the 5' E-box, was detected only with nuclear extracts from lymphoid cells. Specific antisera were used to show that the CD4-3A complex contains a heterodimer or heterooligomer of basic helix-loop-helix transcriptional factors, E12 or a related factor and HEB, which is expressed predominantly in thymus. Consistent with this finding, in vitro-translated E12 and HEB proteins, as homodimers or heterodimers, bound preferentially to the 5' E-box. Point mutations in the 5' E-box, but not in the 3' E-box, abolished CD4 enhancer activity. Furthermore, overexpression of Id, a protein that forms inactive heterodimers with E12/E47, blocked CD4 enhancer activity in T cells. These results suggest that a heterodimer composed of HEB and E12 or a closely related protein plays a critical role in CD4 enhancer function by interacting with the 5' E-box motif of the CD4-3 site in vivo.


1990 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 5027-5035
Author(s):  
J Takeda ◽  
A Cheng ◽  
F Mauxion ◽  
C A Nelson ◽  
R D Newberry ◽  
...  

The minimal T-cell receptor (TCR) beta-chain (TCR beta) enhancer has been identified by transfection into lymphoid cells. The minimal enhancer was active in T cells and in some B-lineage cells. When a larger fragment containing the minimal enhancer was used, its activity was apparent only in T cells. Studies with phytohemagglutinin and 4 beta-phorbol-12,13-dibutyrate revealed that the enhancer activity was increased by these agents. By a combination of DNase I footprinting, gel mobility shift assay, and methylation interference analysis, seven different motifs were identified within the minimal enhancer. Furthermore, competition experiments showed that some of these elements bound identical or similar factors that are known to bind to the TCR V beta promoter decamer or to the immunoglobulin enhancer kappa E2 or muEBP-E motif. These shared motifs may be important in the differential gene activity among the different lymphoid subsets.


1991 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 5506-5515
Author(s):  
S Sawada ◽  
D R Littman

Expression of the CD4 and CD8 glycoproteins is a tightly regulated process tied to the maturation of functionally distinct classes of thymocytes. Therefore, understanding of the mechanism of expression of the genes encoding CD4 and CD8 is likely to yield important insight into regulation of the differentiated functions of T cells. Here, we report the identification of a T-cell-specific enhancer in a DNase I-hypersensitive region about 13 kb 5' of the transcription initiation site of the murine CD4 gene. Within the minimal enhancer element, at least three nuclear protein binding sites were identified by DNase I footprint analysis. One site contains the consensus motif for TCF-1 alpha/LEF-1, a recently identified HMG box transcription factor primarily expressed in pre-B and T cells. By Southwestern (DNA-protein) blotting and binding competition analyses, the protein binding to this site was found to be indistinguishable from TCF-1 alpha/LEF-1. Mutagenesis of this site resulted in loss of factor binding but had a relatively minor effect on enhancer activity. In contrast, mutations in another site, containing two consensus binding motifs for basic helix-loop-helix proteins, abolished factor binding and dramatically reduced enhancer activity. None of the protein binding sites had activity on its own, suggesting that the CD4 enhancer requires the interaction of multiple regulatory sites.


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