title: Interactions between repressor and anti-repressor elements in the carbamyl phosphate synthetase I promoter.
abstract: The proximal promoter of the rat carbamyl phosphate synthetase I gene contains four cis-acting regulatory regions, designated sites GAG, I, II, and III. The GAG site, which is located adjacent to the predicted TATA region, contains a direct repeat of the nonamer, GAGGAGGGG, and binds a factor which is unrelated to the other upstream binding site factors. Sites I-III, on the other hand, bind the same or similar factors, but with different affinities (site II > site III > site I). High affinity binding to site II requires the core octamer, GTTGCAAC. Sequential 5'-deletion of the promoter revealed that GAG is the predominant activating element in transient transfection analyses and, on its own, can sustain activity of a -67 promoter fragment. However, in the context of a -157 promoter in which the GTTGCAAC core of site II had been mutated, promoter activity was completely repressed, and this repression was due to sites I and III. Repression by sites I and III in the presence of mutated site II was relieved either by mutating sites I and III or by introducing a 76-bp random DNA fragment between GAG and site I. Our results suggest a model in which the carbamyl phosphate synthetase I promoter is controlled by a single activating element, GAG, and by two repressor elements, sites I and III. We conclude that the high affinity site II element binds an anti-repressor. Footprint analyses of the -157 promoter with and without a mutation of the GTTGCAAC element in site II suggest that the anti-repressor may interfere with the site I and site III repressors by quenching.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry, McGill University, Montreal, Canada.
authors.forename: I S
authors.initials: IS
authors.lastname: Goping
authors.forename: G C
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: Shore
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D002222:Carbamoyl-Phosphate Synthase (Ammonia) / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; D002460:Cell Line; D008113:Liver Neoplasms; D008156:Luciferases / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000378:metabolism; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016296:Mutagenesis; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D011487:Protein Conformation; D051381:Rats; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D016385:TATA Box; D014162:Transfection; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D012097:Repressor Proteins; D008156:Luciferases; D002222:Carbamoyl-Phosphate Synthase (Ammonia)