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Mol. Cell. Biol., May 1997, 2642-2648, Vol 17, No. 5
T Tagami, LD Madison, T Nagaya and JL Jameson
A group of transcriptional cofactors referred to as corepressors (CoRs)
were recently shown to play a central role in basal silencing of genes that
contain positive triiodothyronine (T3) response elements. In a reciprocal
manner, negatively regulated genes are stimulated by unliganded thyroid
hormone receptor (TR) and repressed upon the addition of T3. We used a TR
beta mutant, called P214R, which fails to interact with CoRs, to examine
whether CoRs also play a role in the control of genes that are negatively
regulated in response to T3. In studies of three negatively regulated genes
(the pituitary thyroid- stimulating hormone alpha-subunit [TSH alpha], TSH
beta, and hypothalamic thyrotropin-releasing hormone [TRH] genes),
stimulation of basal promoter activity by unliganded TR beta was impaired
by introducing the P214R CoR mutation. Coexpression of each of the CoRs
SMRT (silencing mediator for retinoid receptors and TRs) and NCoR (nuclear
receptor CoR) enhanced basal stimulation of the negatively regulated
promoters in a TR-dependent manner, but this effect was not seen with the
P214R TR mutant. The mechanism of CoR effects on negatively regulated
promoters was explored further with a series of GAL4-TR chimeric receptors
and mutants that allowed TR effects to be assessed independently of
receptor interactions with DNA. These experiments revealed that, like the
negative regulation of genes by wild-type TR, basal activation occurred
with GAL4-TR, but not with the GAL4-P214R mutant, and was reversed by the
addition of T3. These results suggest that TR interactions with negatively
regulated genes may be driven through protein-protein interactions. We
conclude that a subset of negatively regulated genes are controlled by a
novel mechanism that involves TR-mediated recruitment and basal activation
by SMRT and NCoR. Addition of T3 reverses basal activation, perhaps by
dissociation of CoRs.
Copyright © 1997, American Society for Microbiology
Nuclear receptor corepressors activate rather than suppress basal transcription of genes that are negatively regulated by thyroid hormone
Division of Endocrinology, Metabolism, and Molecular Medicine, Northwestern University Medical School, Chicago, Illinois 60611, USA.
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