We studied the functional interaction between human embryonic C2 globin promoter and the a globin regulatory element region. These data suggest that transcriptional activation of human embryonic g2 globin gene and the fetal/adult a globin genes is mediated by erythroid cell-specific and developmental stage-specific nuclear factor-DNA complexes which form at the enhancer (HS-40) and the globin promoters.Similar to those of other vertebrates, the human ,3-and a-like globin gene families are each arranged as gene clusters. The Pi cluster is on chromosome 11, and the a cluster is on chromosome 16 (reviewed in reference 5). Transcriptional activities of genes contained within both clusters are confined in erythroid cells, and they are sequentially turned on and off during development in the order of their physical arrangement in the clusters (reviewed in reference 15). Genetic evidence and direct experimental data suggest that the regulation of each globin gene family is controlled by regulatory elements located many kilobases upstream of each gene cluster (11,12,41). These sequences, referred to as the I locus control region (P-LCR) and the a. globin regulatory element (HS-40), not only act as classical enhancers in transient expression assays (references 21, 22, 28, 35, and 42 and this study) but also confer erythroid lineagespecific and integration site-independent expression of linked promoters in stably transformed cell lines or transgenic mice (11, 12; reviewed in references 7, 25, and 36).Similar to the 1-LCR (8,11,41), the location of ao globin regulatory element was first mapped near one of four erythroid cell-specific, DNase
The theta 1 globin gene is an alpha globin-like gene, and started to diverge from the other members of the alpha globin family 260 million years ago. DNA sequencing and transcriptional analysis indicated that it is functional in erythroid cells of the higher primates, but not in prosimians and rabbit. The theta 1 promoter region of higher primates including man consists of GC-rich sequences characteristic of housekeeping gene promoters, and CCAAT and TATA boxes located further upstream. It is shown here that the housekeeping gene promoter-like region of human theta 1 contains two tandemly arranged, GC-rich motifs (GC-I and GC-II). Of these, GC-II interacts with nuclear factor(s) present in the globin-expressing, erythroleukemia cell line K562, before and after hemin induction. GC-I, however, interacts with nuclear factor(s) only present in hemin-induced K562 cells. These factors are different from previously reported erythroid cell-specific factors, and are not detectable in non-erythroid Hela cells. Furthermore, the sequence of the motif GC-I and its location relative to ATG codon have been conserved among all known mammalian theta 1 globin genes. Finally, and most interestingly, the CCAAT box of theta 1 is contained within a 38 bp internal segment of Alu repeat sequence. Immediately upstream from this CCAAT box-containing Alu repeat segment is a 241 bp Alu repeat pointing in the opposite direction. The conservation of this novel arrangement among the higher primates suggests that an inserted Alu family repeat and its flanking genomic sequence have co-evolved, for at least 30 million years, to provide the canonical CCAAT and TATA promoter elements of the theta 1 globin genes in higher primates.
We studied the functional interaction between human embryonic zeta 2 globin promoter and the alpha globin regulatory element (HS-40) located 40 kb upstream of the zeta 2 globin gene. It was shown by transient expression assay that HS-40 behaved as an authentic enhancer for high-level zeta 2 globin promoter activity in K562 cells, an erythroid cell line of embryonic and/or fetal origin. Although sequences located between -559 and -88 of the zeta 2 globin gene were dispensable for its expression on enhancerless plasmids, they were required for the HS-40 enhancer-mediated activity of the zeta 2 globin promoter. Site-directed mutagenesis demonstrated that this HS-40 enhancer-zeta 2 globin promoter interaction is mediated by the two GATA-1 factor binding motifs located at -230 and -104, respectively. The functional domains of HS-40 were also mapped. Bal 31 deletion mapping data suggested that one GATA-1 motif, one GT motif, and two NF-E2/AP1 motifs together formed the functional core of HS-40 in the erythroid-specific activation of the zeta 2 globin promoter. Site-directed mutagenesis further demonstrated that the enhancer function of one of the two NF-E2/AP1 motifs of HS-40 is mediated through its binding to NF-E2 but not AP1 transcription factor. Finally, we did genomic footprinting of the HS-40 enhancer region in K562 cells, adult nucleated erythroblasts, and different nonerythroid cells. All sequence motifs within the functional core of HS-40, as mapped by transient expression analysis, appeared to bind a nuclear factor(s) in living K562 cells but not in nonerythroid cells. On the other hand, only one of the apparently nonfunctional sequence motifs was bound with factors in vivo. In comparison to K562, nucleated erythroblasts from adult human bone marrow exhibited a similar but nonidentical pattern of nuclear factor binding in vivo at the HS-40 region. These data suggest that transcriptional activation of human embryonic zeta 2 globin gene and the fetal/adult alpha globin genes is mediated by erythroid cell-specific and developmental stage-specific nuclear factor-DNA complexes which form at the enhancer (HS-40) and the globin promoters.
The protein-DNA interactions of the upstream promoter region of the human embryonic zeta-globin gene in nuclear extracts of erythroid K562 cells and nonerythroid HeLa cells were analyzed by DNase I footprinting, gel mobility shift assay, methylation interference, and oligonucleotide competition experiments. There are mainly two clusters of nuclear factor-binding sites in the zeta promoter. The proximal cluster spans the DNA sequence from -110 to -60 and consists of binding sites for CP2, Sp1, and NF-E1. NF-E1 binding is K562 specific, whereas CP2 binding is common to both types of cells. Overlapping the NF-E1- and CP2-binding sites is a hidden Sp1-binding site or CAC box, as demonstrated by binding studies of affinity-purified Sp1. In the distal promoter region at -250 to -220, another NF-E1-binding site overlaps a CAC box or Sp1-binding site. Extract-mixing experiments demonstrated that the higher affinity of NF-E1 binding excluded the binding of Sp1 in the K562 extract. NF-E1 factors could also displace prebound Sp1 molecules. Between the two clusters of multiple-factor-binding sites are sequences recognized by other factors, including zeta-globin factors 1 and 2, that are present in both HeLa and K562 extracts. We discuss the cell type-specific, competitive binding of multiple nuclear factors in terms of functional implications in transcriptional regulation of the zeta-globin gene.
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