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Molecular and Cellular Biology, October 2000, p. 7192-7204, Vol. 20, No. 19
0270-7306/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.

Amino Acids Control Mammalian Gene Transcription: Activating Transcription Factor 2 Is Essential for the Amino Acid Responsiveness of the CHOP Promoter

Alain Bruhat,1 Céline Jousse,1 Valérie Carraro,1 Andreas M. Reimold,2 Marc Ferrara,1 and Pierre Fafournoux1,*

U.R. 238 de Nutrition Cellulaire et Moléculaire, INRA de Theix, 63122 Saint Genès Champanelle, France,1 and Department of Immunology and Infectious Diseases, Harvard School of Public Health, and Department of Medicine, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 021152

Received 31 January 2000/Returned for modification 2 March 2000/Accepted 7 July 2000

In mammals, plasma concentration of amino acids is affected by nutritional or pathological conditions. It has been well established that nutrients, and particularly amino acids, are involved in the control of gene expression. Here we examined the molecular mechanisms involved in the regulation of CHOP (a CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein [C/EBP]-related gene) expression upon amino acid limitation. We have previously shown that regulation of CHOP mRNA expression by amino acid concentration has both transcriptional and posttranscriptional components. We report the analysis of cis- and trans-acting elements involved in the transcriptional activation of the human CHOP gene by leucine starvation. Using a transient expression assay, we show that a cis-positive element is essential for amino acid regulation of the CHOP promoter. This sequence is the first described that can regulate a basal promoter in response to starvation for several individual amino acids and therefore can be called an amino acid response element (AARE). In addition, we show that the CHOP AARE is related to C/EBP and ATF/CRE binding sites and binds in vitro the activating transcription factor 2 (ATF-2) in starved and unstarved conditions. Using ATF-2-deficient mouse embryonic fibroblasts and an ATF-2-dominant negative mutant, we demonstrate that expression of this transcription factor is essential for the transcriptional activation of CHOP by leucine starvation. Altogether, these results suggest that ATF-2 may be a member of a cascade of molecular events by which the cellular concentration of amino acids can regulate mammalian gene expression.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: U.R. 238 de Nutrition Cellulaire et Moléculaire, INRA de Theix, 63122 Saint Genès Champanelle, France. Phone: 33 4 73 62 45 62. Fax: 33 4 73 62 45 70. E-mail: fpierre{at}clermont.inra.fr.

Molecular and Cellular Biology, October 2000, p. 7192-7204, Vol. 20, No. 19
0270-7306/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.


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