title: Expression of luteinising hormone-beta subunit chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (LH-beta-CAT) fusion gene in rat pituitary cells: induction by cyclic 3'-adenosine monophosphate (cAMP).
abstract: In this study we determined the activity of the rat luteinising hormone-beta gene promoter in a heterologous rat pituitary cell line (GH3 cells). 1.7 kb of LH-beta 5' flanking sequence and the first 5 bp of the 5' untranslated region were ligated to the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) receptor gene (LH-beta-CAT) and transiently transfected by calcium phosphate precipitation into subconfluent cultures of GH3 cells. Basal low-level CAT activity was only detected in GH3 cells, being absent in two non-pituitary cell lines (BeWo and HeLa) RNase analysis revealed that mRNA from transfected GH3 cells protected a fragment of labelled antisense probe of correct size for transcription initiation from the LH-beta CAP site, confirming that promoter activity reflected correctly initiated LH-beta-CAT fusion gene transcripts. CAT activity was consistently induced by an average of 3-5-fold from the full-length 1.7 kb promoter, in a dose- and time-dependent manner, by forskolin, dibutyryl cAMP, and 8-bromo cAMP implying presence of a cAMP-responsive cis-acting domain in the LH-beta promoter region. Transfection of deletion mutants delta-615-CAT, delta-385-CAT and delta-250-CAT each reduced forskolin inducibility to 1.7-fold but did not abolish induction completely suggesting a domain between -1.7 and -0.6 kb contained a cAMP-responsive element(s) (CRE). Further deletion of LH-beta 5' flanking sequences to delta-85-CAT restored forskolin induction to wild-type levels (3-5-fold), suggesting the presence of a weak inhibitory element between -600 and -85 kb, and a cAMP-responsive domain in the proximal promoter region. The LH-beta promoter does not contain perfect tandem repeat palindromic CRE DNA sequences, though there are several octanucleotide sequences differing by only 1 bp from AP-2 binding sites, the consensus CRE, and the vasointestinal peptide gene CRE. Although these data suggest that the LH-beta gene is cAMP responsive this is likely mediated by several and complex protein interactions with multiple DNA sequences in the proximal and distal LH-beta promoter enhancer.
authors.affiliation: Endocrinology Research Group, Clinical Research Centre, Harrow, Middlesex, U.K.
authors.forename: R N
authors.initials: RN
authors.lastname: Clayton
authors.forename: M R
authors.initials: MR
authors.lastname: Lalloz
authors.forename: S R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Salton
authors.forename: J L
authors.initials: JL
authors.lastname: Roberts
mesh_terms: D000262:Adenylyl Cyclases / Q000378:metabolism; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D015500:Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D000242:Cyclic AMP / Q000378:metabolism*; D004247:DNA; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009154:Mutation; D009928:Organ Specificity / Q000235:genetics; D010902:Pituitary Gland / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D051381:Rats; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D007986:Luteinizing Hormone; D004247:DNA; D000242:Cyclic AMP; D015500:Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase; D000262:Adenylyl Cyclases