title: Functional interaction of c-Ets-1 and GHF-1/Pit-1 mediates Ras activation of pituitary-specific gene expression: mapping of the essential c-Ets-1 domain.
abstract: The mechanism by which activation of common signal transduction pathways can elicit cell-specific responses remains an important question in biology. To elucidate the molecular mechanism by which the Ras signaling pathway activates a cell-type-specific gene, we have used the pituitary-specific rat prolactin (rPRL) promoter as a target of oncogenic Ras and Raf in GH4 rat pituitary cells. Here we show that expression of either c-Ets-1 or the POU homeo-domain transcription factor GHF-1/Pit-1 enhance the Ras/Raf activation of the rPRL promoter and that coexpression of the two transcription factors results in an even greater synergistic Ras response. By contrast, the related GHF-1-dependent rat growth hormone promoter fails to respond to Ras or Raf, indicating that GHF-1 alone is insufficient to mediate the Ras/Raf effect. Using amino-terminal truncations of c-Ets-1, we have mapped the c-Ets-1 region required to mediate the optimal Ras response to a 40-amino-acid segment which contains a putative mitogen-activated protein kinase site. Finally, dominant-negative Ets and GHF constructs block Ras activation of the rPRL promoter, and each blocks the synergistic activation mediated by the other partner protein, further corroborating that a functional interaction between c-Ets-1 and GHF-1 is required for an optimal Ras response. Thus, the functional interaction of a pituitary-specific transcription factor, GHF-1, with a widely expressed nuclear proto-oncogene product, c-Ets-1, provides one important molecular mechanism by which the general Ras signaling cascade can be interpreted in a cell-type-specific manner.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, University of Colorado Health Sciences Center, Denver 80262, USA.
authors.forename: A P
authors.initials: AP
authors.lastname: Bradford
authors.forename: K E
authors.initials: KE
authors.lastname: Conrad
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Wasylyk
authors.forename: B
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Wasylyk
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gutierrez-Hartmann
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D017871:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases / Q000235:genetics; D002460:Cell Line; D002874:Chromosome Mapping; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D011905:Genes, ras; D013006:Growth Hormone / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011388:Prolactin / Q000235:genetics; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism*; D050783:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ets; D019908:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-raf; D051381:Rats; D015398:Signal Transduction; D050817:Transcription Factor Pit-1; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; C494186:Pou1f1 protein, rat; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D050783:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-ets; D050817:Transcription Factor Pit-1; D014157:Transcription Factors; D011388:Prolactin; D013006:Growth Hormone; D004247:DNA; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D019908:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-raf; D017871:Calcium-Calmodulin-Dependent Protein Kinases