The promoter of the H1zero histone gene contains a DNA element bound by retinoic acid receptors.
Retinoic-acid mediated differentiation of F9 cells is accompanied by an increased transcription of the histone H1zero gene. This increase is an early response after addition of retinoic acid, suggesting a direct effect of the hormone on transcription of the gene. We show now that the promoter of histone H1zero contains a DNA element, localized 531 base-pairs upstream of the cap site, that is composed of a direct repeat of the sequence PuGGTCA separated by eight base-pairs. This element confers retinoic acid responsiveness to a heterologous thymidine kinase promoter in F9 and HeLa cells. Furthermore, the element forms retarded complexes not only with bacterially expressed retinoic acid receptors (RARs) and retinoid X receptors (RXRs), but also with endogenous F9 receptors. Our results suggest therefore that retinoic acid receptors can control the expression of a chromatin structural gene the expression of which is associated with a differentiated phenotype.
Mader
S
S
Laboratoire de Génétique Moléculaire des Eucaryotes du CNRS, Strasbourg, France.
Thiele
K
K
Breuer
B
B
Alonso
A
A
D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006657:Histones / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D066298:In Vitro Techniques; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009687:Nuclear Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides / Q000737:chemistry; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D018168:Receptors, Retinoic Acid / Q000378:metabolism*; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
D006657:Histones; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D018168:Receptors, Retinoic Acid