An affective disorder in zebrafish with mutation of the glucocorticoid receptor.

Upon binding of cortisol, the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) regulates the transcription of specific target genes, including those that encode the stress hormones corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) and adrenocorticotropic hormone. Dysregulation of the stress axis is a hallmark of major depression in human patients. However, it is still unclear how glucocorticoid signaling is linked to affective disorders. We identified an adult-viable zebrafish mutant in which the negative feedback on the stress response is disrupted, due to abolition of all transcriptional activity of GR. As a consequence, cortisol is elevated, but unable to signal through GR. When placed into an unfamiliar aquarium ('novel tank'), mutant fish become immobile ('freeze'), show reduced exploratory behavior and do not habituate to this stressor upon repeated exposure. Addition of the antidepressant fluoxetine to the holding water and social interactions restore normal behavior, followed by a delayed correction of cortisol levels. Fluoxetine does not affect the overall transcription of CRH, the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR), the serotonin transporter (Serta) or GR itself. Fluoxetine, however, suppresses the stress-induced upregulation of MR and Serta in both wild-type fish and mutants. Our studies show a conserved, protective function of glucocorticoid signaling in the regulation of emotional behavior and reveal novel molecular aspects of how chronic stress impacts vertebrate brain physiology and behavior. Importantly, the zebrafish model opens up the possibility of high-throughput drug screens in search of new classes of antidepressants.

Glucocorticoid-regulated glycoprotein maturation in wild-type and mutant rat cell lines.

Glucocorticoid hormones can regulate the posttranslational maturation of mouse mammary tumor virus (MTV) precursor polyproteins in M1.54, a stably infected rat hepatoma cell line. We have used complement-mediated cytolysis to recover variants of M1.54 that fail to express MTV cell surface glycoproteins in a hormone-regulated manner (Firestone, G.L., and K.R. Yamamoto, 1983, Mol. Cell. Biol., 3:149-160). One such clonal isolate, CR4, is similar to wild-type with respect to synthesis of MTV mRNAs, production of the MTV glycoprotein precursor (gPr74env) and a glycosylated maturation product (gp51), and hormone-induced processing of two MTV phosphoproteins. In contrast, three viral cell surface glycoproteins (gp78, gp70, and gp32) and one extracellular species (gp70s), which derive from gPr74env in glucocorticoid-treated wild-type cells, fail to appear in CR4. CR4 showed no apparent alterations in proliferation rate, cell shape, or expression of total functional mRNA and bulk glycoproteins. We conclude that the genetic lesion in CR4 defines a highly selective hormone-regulated glycoprotein maturation pathway that alters the fate of a restricted subset of precursor species.

Mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid receptor activities distinguished by nonreceptor factors at a composite response element.

Mineralocorticoid and glucocorticoid hormones elicit distinct physiologic responses, yet the mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) and glucocorticoid receptor (GR) bind to and activate transcription similarly from a consensus simple hormone response element (HRE). The activities of GR and MR at plfG, a 25-base pair composite response element to which both the steroid receptors and transcription factor AP1 can bind, are analyzed here. Under conditions in which GR represses AP1-stimulated transcription from plfG, MR was inactive. With the use of MR-GR chimeras, a segment of the NH2-terminal region of GR (amino acids 105 to 440) was shown to be required for this repression. Thus, the distinct physiologic effects mediated by MR and GR may be determined by differential interactions of nonreceptor factors with specific receptor domains at composite response elements.

Mammalian glucocorticoid receptor derivatives enhance transcription in yeast.

In mammalian cells, the glucocorticoid receptor binds specifically to glucocorticoid response element (GRE) DNA sequences and enhances transcription from linked promoters. It is shown here that derivatives of the glucocorticoid receptor also enhance transcription when expressed in yeast. Receptor-mediated enhancement in yeast was observed in fusions of GRE sequences to the yeast cytochrome c1 (CYC1) promoter; the CYC1 upstream activator sequences were not essential, since enhancement was observed in fusions of GREs to mutant CYC1 promoters retaining only the TATA region and transcription startpoints. It is concluded that the receptor operates by a common, highly conserved mechanism in yeast and mammalian cells.

Signal transduction and transcriptional regulation by glucocorticoid receptor-LexA fusion proteins.

The glucocorticoid receptor regulates transcriptional initiation upon binding to its cognate hormone. A series of fusion genes was constructed to examine the mechanism of hormone-regulated transcriptional enhancement. The DNA binding domain of the bacterial LexA repressor was fused to receptor derivatives lacking the region that is necessary and sufficient for specific DNA binding and transcriptional enhancement at glucocorticoid response elements (GRE's). The resultant hybrid proteins activated transcription from promoters linked to the lex operator. Enhancement still required hormone binding by the hybrid receptor regardless of the exact positioning of the LexA binding domain within the protein. Thus, the unliganded hormone binding domain of the receptor acts as a strong but reversible inhibitor of receptor activity in a manner that is independent of the means by which the receptor recognizes DNA. The results also show directly that the receptor contains at least one "enhancement domain" other than that overlapping the GRE binding region; the second domain, enh2, occupies a region near the receptor amino terminus.

Glucocorticoid receptor mutants that define a small region sufficient for enhancer activation.

Transcriptional enhancement is a general mechanism for regulation of gene expression in which particular proteins bound to specific DNA sequences stimulate the efficiency of initiation from linked promoters. One such protein, the glucocorticoid receptor, mediates enhancement in a glucocorticoid hormone-dependent manner. In this study, a region of the 795-amino acid rat glucocorticoid receptor that is active in transcriptional enhancement was identified. The active region was defined by expressing various receptor deletion mutants in stably and transiently transfected cells and examining the regulated transcription of hormone-responsive genes. Mutant receptors lacking as many as 439 amino-terminal amino acids retained activity, as did those with as many as 270 carboxyl-terminal amino acids deleted. This suggests that the 86-amino acid segment between the most extensive terminal deletions, which also includes sequences required for specific DNA binding in vitro, is sufficient for enhancer activation. In fact, a 150-amino acid receptor fragment that encompasses this segment mediates constitutive enhancement.

In vitro transcription enhancement by purified derivatives of the glucocorticoid receptor.

Mammalian glucocorticoid receptors enhance transcription from linked promoters by binding to glucocorticoid response element (GRE) DNA sequences. Understanding the mechanism of receptor action will require biochemical studies with purified components. Enhancement was observed in vitro with derivatives of the receptor that were expressed in Escherichia coli, purified, and added to a cell-free extract from Drosophila embryo nuclei. Transcription from promoters linked to one or multiple GREs was selectively enhanced by as much as six times. The effect was weaker with only one GRE, and enhancement was abolished by a point mutation that inactivates the GRE in vivo.

Roles of SWI1, SWI2, and SWI3 proteins for transcriptional enhancement by steroid receptors.

The SWI1, SWI2, and SWI3 proteins, which are required for regulated transcription of numerous yeast genes, were found also to be essential for rat glucocorticoid receptor function in yeast; the receptor failed to activate transcription in strains with mutations in the SWI1, SWI2, or SWI3 genes. Certain mutations in genes encoding components of chromatin, identified as suppressors of swi mutations, partially relieved the SWI- requirement for receptor function. Immunoprecipitation of glucocorticoid receptor derivatives from wild-type (SWI+) yeast extracts coprecipitated the SWI3 protein; such receptor-SWI3 complexes were not detected in swi1- or swi2- mutant strains, implying that a complex of multiple SWI proteins may associate with the receptor. Prior incubation of a Drosophila embryo transcription extract with the yeast SWI3-specific antibody inhibited receptor function in vitro whereas the antibody had no effect if added after initiation complex formation. Thus, positive regulation by the glucocorticoid receptor in vivo and in vitro appears to require its interaction, at an early step, with one or more SWI proteins.

The immunoglobulin octanucleotide: independent activity and selective interaction with enhancers.

The thymidine kinase (tk) promoter of herpes simplex virus includes an octanucleotide sequence motif (ATTTGCAT) that is also an essential component of immunoglobulin kappa gene promoters. In the absence of an enhancer, tk promoter derivatives that contain this element support a higher rate of transcription than those that lack it. The action of the kappa enhancer augments that of the octanucleotide in B lymphoid cells; when both elements are present, tk promoter activity is increased by more than an order of magnitude. In contrast, the presence of the octanucleotide in this promoter markedly reduces its response to a nonimmunoglobulin enhancer. These results suggest that the octanucleotide may mediate a selective interaction among promoters and enhancers.

Transcription factor interactions: selectors of positive or negative regulation from a single DNA element.

The mechanism by which a single factor evokes opposite regulatory effects from a specific DNA sequence is not well understood. In this study, a 25-base pair element that resides upstream of the mouse proliferin gene was examined; it conferred on linked promoters either positive or negative glucocorticoid regulation, depending upon physiological context. This sequence, denoted a "composite" glucocorticoid response element (GRE), was bound selectively in vitro both by the glucocorticoid receptor and by c-Jun and c-Fos, components of the phorbol ester-activated AP-1 transcription factor. Indeed, c-Jun and c-Fos served as selectors of hormone responsiveness: the composite GRE was inactive in the absence of c-Jun, whereas it conferred a positive glucocorticoid effect in the presence of c-Jun, and a negative glucocorticoid effect in the presence of c-Jun and relatively high levels of c-Fos. The receptor also interacted selectively with c-Jun in vitro. A general model for composite GRE action is proposed that invokes both DNA binding and protein-protein interactions by receptor and nonreceptor factors.

Solution structure of the glucocorticoid receptor DNA-binding domain.

The three-dimensional structure of the DNA-binding domain (DBD) of the glucocorticoid receptor has been determined by nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy and distance geometry. The structure of a 71-residue protein fragment containing two "zinc finger" domains is based on a large set of proton-proton distances derived from nuclear Overhauser enhancement spectra, hydrogen bonds in previously identified secondary structure elements, and coordination of two zinc atoms by conserved cysteine residues. The DBD is found to consist of a globular body from which the finger regions extend. A model of the dimeric complex between the DBD and the glucocorticoid response element is proposed. The model is consistent with previous results indicating that specific amino acid residues of the DBD are involved in protein-DNA and protein-protein interactions.

Regulatory crosstalk at composite response elements.

Transcriptional regulatory factors from different families interact with each other when bound to DNA at composite response elements. This level of communication has two striking consequences: ubiquitous factors can effect cell specificity, and closely related factors from a given family can produce very different regulatory patterns.

Continuous recycling: a mechanism for modulatory signal transduction.

Modulatory signal transduction commonly requires efficient "on demand" assembly of specific multicomponent cellular machines that convert signals to cellular actions. This article suggests that for these signaling machines to detect and respond to fluctuations in signal strength, they must be continuously disassembled in an energy-dependent process that probably involves molecular chaperones.

A conformational switch in the ligand-binding domain regulates the dependence of the glucocorticoid receptor on Hsp90.

Steroid hormone receptors (SRs) are transcription factors that act as regulatory switches by altering gene expression in response to ligands. The highly conserved ligand-binding domain of SRs is a precise but versatile molecular switch that can adopt distinct conformations. Differential stabilization of these conformations by ligands, DNA response elements and transcriptional coregulators controls the activity of SRs in a gene-specific and cell-specific manner. In the case of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), high-affinity ligand binding requires the interaction of the LBD with the heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90). Here, we show that the dependence of the ligand binding ability of GR on Hsp90 can be modified by the replacement of single amino acids within an allosteric network that connects the buried ligand-binding pocket and a solvent-exposed coregulator interaction surface. Each of the identified mutations altered the equilibrium between alternative GR conformations distinctively, indicating that the Hsp90 dependence of SRs may correlate with differences in the conformational dynamics of these receptors. Our results suggest that Hsp90 stabilizes the GR ligand-binding pocket indirectly by utilizing the allosteric network, while allowing the receptor to remain structurally uncommitted. Thus, in addition to ensuring the accessibility of the GR ligand-binding pocket to ligands, Hsp90 seems to enable hormones and coregulators to act as allosteric effectors, which forms the basis for gene-specific and cell-specific responses of GR to ligands.

Two different factors act separately or together to specify functionally distinct activities at a single transcriptional enhancer.

The expression of genes fused downstream of the Moloney murine sarcoma virus (MoMSV) long terminal repeat is stimulated by glucocorticoids. We mapped the glucocorticoid response element that conferred this hormonal regulation and found that it is a hormone-dependent transcriptional enhancer, designated Sg; it resides within DNA fragments that also carry a previously described enhancer element (B. Levinson, G. Khoury, G. Vande Woude, and P. Gruss, Nature [London] 295:568-572, 1982), here termed Sa, whose activity is independent of the hormone. Nuclease footprinting revealed that purified glucocorticoid receptor bound at multiple discrete sites within and at the borders of the tandemly repeated sequence motif that defines Sa. The Sa and Sg activities stimulated the apparent efficiency of cognate or heterologous promoter utilization, individually providing modest enhancement and in concert yielding higher levels of activity. A deletion mutant lacking most of the tandem repeat but retaining a single receptor footprint sequence lost Sa activity but still conferred Sg activity. The two enhancer components could also be distinguished physiologically: both were operative within cultured rat fibroblasts, but only Sg activity was detectable in rat exocrine pancreas cells. Therefore, the sequence determinants of Sa and Sg activity may be interdigitated, and when both components are active, the receptor and a putative Sa factor can apparently bind and act simultaneously. We concluded that MoMSV enhancer activity is effected by at least two distinct binding factors, suggesting that combinatorial regulation of promoter function can be mediated even from a single genetic element.

Two classes of mutant mammary tumor virus-infected HTC cell with defects in glucocorticoid-regulated gene expression.

We have isolated mutant derivatives of M1.54 (a mammary tumor virus [MTV]-infected rat hepatoma [HTC] cell line containing multiple integrated proviruses) that fail to express hormone-inducible cell surface viral glycoproteins. In wild-type M1.54, the synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone selectively stimulates the rate of synthesis of MTV RNA. In addition, dexamethasone is essential for posttranslational maturation of three of the four cell surface viral glycoproteins processed from the MTV glycosylated precursor polyprotein; the fourth mature species is produced constitutively. Two mutant phenotypes are described; each contains glucocorticoid receptors that are indistinguishable from the wild-type receptor with respect to hormone affinity, intracellular concentration, nuclear translocation efficiency, DNA-cellulose chromatography, and sedimentation rate. In one class, represented by the mutant line CR1, dexamethasone fails to stimulate the low basal rate of MTV gene transcription; surprisingly, hormonal regulation of tyrosine aminotransferase activity is also defective in CR1, whereas several other cellular responses to dexamethasone are normal. In the second class of mutants, represented by CR4, dexamethasone stimulates synthesis of MTV transcripts indistinguishable from those produced in M1.54, but only the constitutive cell surface viral glycoprotein is expressed. Thus, these mutants define two distinct and novel aspects of glucocorticoid regulated gene expression in HTC cells: CR4 contains a defect in a hormone inducible protein maturation pathway that acts on specific viral (and presumably cellular) precursor polypeptides, whereas the lesion in CR1 appears to affect the expression of a subset of the gene products normally under glucocorticoid control in M1.54.

Glucocorticoids and chromosomal position modulate murine mammary tumor virus transcription by affecting efficiency of promoter utilization.

The rate of transcription of murine mammary tumor virus (MTV) sequences in MTV-infected rat hepatoma tissue culture cells is strongly affected by both glucocorticoid hormones and the chromosomal position of provirus integration. We have characterized MTV RNAs produced in J2.17 and M1.54, independent isolates containing, respectively, 1 and 10 proviruses integrated at distinct chromosomal loci. M1.54, but not J2.17, synthesized MTV RNA in the absence of glucocorticoids; the rate of hormone-stimulated viral gene transcription in M1.54 was 50- to 100-fold higher than in J2.17. In each case in which MTV genes were expressed (J2.17 induced, M1.54 basal and induced), the viral RNAs produced were indistinguishable. RNA blotting revealed accumulation of two transcripts, 7.8 and 3.8 kilobases; the latter was likely produced from the former by RNA splicing. Sites used for transcription initiation, polyadenylation, and splicing have been identified from the sizes of end-labeled hybridization probes protected from digestion with mung bean nuclease; the unique initiation and polyadenylation sites were both encoded within the MTV long-terminal-repeat sequence. The efficiencies of splicing and of utilization of the polyadenylation signal did not appear to vary as functions of chromosomal position or hormonal stimulation. Differences in rates of viral gene transcription were reflected in the differential accumulation of the 5'-terminal 136 nucleotides of MTV RNA. Thus, glucocorticoids and chromosomal position appeared to affect solely the efficiency of utilization of the MTV promoter, leaving unchanged the sites of initiation, splicing, and polyadenylation, as well as the efficiencies of the latter two processes.

Mitogen-activated and cyclin-dependent protein kinases selectively and differentially modulate transcriptional enhancement by the glucocorticoid receptor.

Cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) and mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) phosphorylate the rat glucocorticoid receptor in vitro at distinct sites that together correspond to the major phosphorylated receptor residues observed in vivo; MAPK phosphorylates receptor residues threonine 171 and serine 246, whereas multiple CDK complexes modify serines 224 and 232. Mutations in these kinases have opposite effects on receptor transcriptional activity in vivo. Receptor-dependent transcriptional enhancement is reduced in yeast strains deficient in the catalytic (p34CDC28) or certain regulatory (cyclin) subunits of CDK complexes and is increased in a strain devoid of the mammalian MAPK homologs FUS3 and KSS1. These findings indicate that the glucocorticoid receptor is a target for multiple kinases in vivo, which either positively or negatively regulate receptor transcriptional enhancement. The control of receptor transcriptional activity via phosphorylation provides an increased array of regulatory inputs that, in addition to steroid hormones, can influence receptor function.

Adenovirus E1A specifically blocks SWI/SNF-dependent transcriptional activation.

Expression of the adenovirus E1A243 oncoprotein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae produces a slow-growth phenotype with accumulation of cells in the G1 phase of the cell cycle. This effect is due to the N-terminal and CR1 domains of E1A243, which in rodent cells are involved in triggering cellular transformation and also in binding to the cellular transcriptional coactivator p300. A genetic screen was undertaken to identify genes required for the function of E1A243 in S. cerevisiae. This screen identified SNF12, a gene encoding the 73-kDa subunit of the SWI/SNF transcriptional regulatory complex. Mutation of genes encoding known members of the SWI/SNF complex also led to loss of E1A function, suggesting that the SWI/SNF complex is a target of E1A243. Moreover, expression of E1A in wild-type cells specifically blocked transcriptional activation of the INO1 and SUC2 genes, whose activation pathways are distinct but have a common requirement for the SWI/SNF complex. These data demonstrate a specific functional interaction between E1A and the SWI/SNF complex and suggest that a similar interaction takes place in rodent and human cells.

Genetic dissection of the signaling domain of a mammalian steroid receptor in yeast.

The mechanism of signal transduction by steroid receptor proteins is complex and not yet understood. We describe here a facile genetic strategy for dissection of the rat glucocorticoid receptor "signaling domain," a region of the protein that binds and transduces the hormonal signal. We found that the characteristics of signal transduction by the receptor expressed in yeast were similar to those of endogenous receptors in mammalian cells. Interestingly, the rank order of particular ligands differed between species with respect to receptor binding and biological efficacy. This suggests that factors in addition to the receptor alone must determine or influence ligand efficacy in vivo. To obtain a collection of receptors with distinct defects in signal transduction, we screened in yeast an extensive series of random point mutations introduced in that region in vitro. Three phenotypic classes were obtained: one group failed to bind hormone, a second displayed altered ligand specificity, and a third bound hormone but lacked regulatory activity. Our results demonstrate that analysis of glucocorticoid receptor action in yeast provides a general approach for analyzing the mechanism of signaling by the nuclear receptor family and may facilitate identification of non-receptor factors that participate in this process.