Skip to main content
Molecular and Cellular Biology logoLink to Molecular and Cellular Biology
. 1996 Oct;16(10):5458–5465. doi: 10.1128/mcb.16.10.5458

A nuclear hormone receptor corepressor mediates transcriptional silencing by receptors with distinct repression domains.

I Zamir 1, H P Harding 1, G B Atkins 1, A Hörlein 1, C K Glass 1, M G Rosenfeld 1, M A Lazar 1
PMCID: PMC231546  PMID: 8816459

Abstract

Ligand-independent transcriptional repression is an important function of nuclear hormone receptors. An interaction screen with the repression domain of the orphan receptor RevErb identified N-CoR, the corepressor for thyroid hormone receptor (TR) and retinoic acid receptor (RAR). N-CoR is likely to be a bona fide transcriptional corepressor for RevErb because (i) RevErb interacts with endogenous N-CoR, (ii) ectopic N-CoR potentiates RevErb-mediated repression, and (iii) transcriptional repression by RevErb correlates with its ability to bind N-CoR. Remarkably, a region homologous to the CoR box which is necessary for TR and RAR to interact with N-CoR is not required for RevErb. Rather, two short regions of RevErb separated by approximately 200 amino acids are required for interaction with N-CoR. The primary amino acid sequence of the N-terminal region of RevErb essential for N-CoR interaction is not homologous to that of TR or RAR, whereas similarities exist among the C-terminal domains of the receptors. N-CoR contains two adjacent but distinct interaction domains, one of which binds tightly to both RevErb and TR whereas the other binds more weakly and differentially interacts with the nuclear receptors. These results indicate that multiple nuclear receptors, utilizing different primary amino acid sequences, repress transcription by interacting with N-CoR.

Full Text

The Full Text of this article is available as a PDF (371.8 KB).

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Baniahmad A., Köhne A. C., Renkawitz R. A transferable silencing domain is present in the thyroid hormone receptor, in the v-erbA oncogene product and in the retinoic acid receptor. EMBO J. 1992 Mar;11(3):1015–1023. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1992.tb05140.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Baniahmad A., Leng X., Burris T. P., Tsai S. Y., Tsai M. J., O'Malley B. W. The tau 4 activation domain of the thyroid hormone receptor is required for release of a putative corepressor(s) necessary for transcriptional silencing. Mol Cell Biol. 1995 Jan;15(1):76–86. doi: 10.1128/mcb.15.1.76. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Barettino D., Vivanco Ruiz M. M., Stunnenberg H. G. Characterization of the ligand-dependent transactivation domain of thyroid hormone receptor. EMBO J. 1994 Jul 1;13(13):3039–3049. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1994.tb06603.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Brent G. A., Dunn M. K., Harney J. W., Gulick T., Larsen P. R., Moore D. D. Thyroid hormone aporeceptor represses T3-inducible promoters and blocks activity of the retinoic acid receptor. New Biol. 1989 Dec;1(3):329–336. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Casanova J., Helmer E., Selmi-Ruby S., Qi J. S., Au-Fliegner M., Desai-Yajnik V., Koudinova N., Yarm F., Raaka B. M., Samuels H. H. Functional evidence for ligand-dependent dissociation of thyroid hormone and retinoic acid receptors from an inhibitory cellular factor. Mol Cell Biol. 1994 Sep;14(9):5756–5765. doi: 10.1128/mcb.14.9.5756. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Cavaillès V., Dauvois S., L'Horset F., Lopez G., Hoare S., Kushner P. J., Parker M. G. Nuclear factor RIP140 modulates transcriptional activation by the estrogen receptor. EMBO J. 1995 Aug 1;14(15):3741–3751. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1995.tb00044.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Chawla A., Lazar M. A. Induction of Rev-ErbA alpha, an orphan receptor encoded on the opposite strand of the alpha-thyroid hormone receptor gene, during adipocyte differentiation. J Biol Chem. 1993 Aug 5;268(22):16265–16269. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Chen J. D., Evans R. M. A transcriptional co-repressor that interacts with nuclear hormone receptors. Nature. 1995 Oct 5;377(6548):454–457. doi: 10.1038/377454a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Chen J. L., Attardi L. D., Verrijzer C. P., Yokomori K., Tjian R. Assembly of recombinant TFIID reveals differential coactivator requirements for distinct transcriptional activators. Cell. 1994 Oct 7;79(1):93–105. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(94)90403-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Chen J. Y., Penco S., Ostrowski J., Balaguer P., Pons M., Starrett J. E., Reczek P., Chambon P., Gronemeyer H. RAR-specific agonist/antagonists which dissociate transactivation and AP1 transrepression inhibit anchorage-independent cell proliferation. EMBO J. 1995 Mar 15;14(6):1187–1197. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1995.tb07102.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Courey A. J., Tjian R. Analysis of Sp1 in vivo reveals multiple transcriptional domains, including a novel glutamine-rich activation motif. Cell. 1988 Dec 2;55(5):887–898. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90144-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Damm K., Heyman R. A., Umesono K., Evans R. M. Functional inhibition of retinoic acid response by dominant negative retinoic acid receptor mutants. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1993 Apr 1;90(7):2989–2993. doi: 10.1073/pnas.90.7.2989. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Damm K., Thompson C. C., Evans R. M. Protein encoded by v-erbA functions as a thyroid-hormone receptor antagonist. Nature. 1989 Jun 22;339(6226):593–597. doi: 10.1038/339593a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Danielian P. S., White R., Lees J. A., Parker M. G. Identification of a conserved region required for hormone dependent transcriptional activation by steroid hormone receptors. EMBO J. 1992 Mar;11(3):1025–1033. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1992.tb05141.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Dumas B., Harding H. P., Choi H. S., Lehmann K. A., Chung M., Lazar M. A., Moore D. D. A new orphan member of the nuclear hormone receptor superfamily closely related to Rev-Erb. Mol Endocrinol. 1994 Aug;8(8):996–1005. doi: 10.1210/mend.8.8.7997240. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Durand B., Saunders M., Gaudon C., Roy B., Losson R., Chambon P. Activation function 2 (AF-2) of retinoic acid receptor and 9-cis retinoic acid receptor: presence of a conserved autonomous constitutive activating domain and influence of the nature of the response element on AF-2 activity. EMBO J. 1994 Nov 15;13(22):5370–5382. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1994.tb06872.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Ewen M. E., Faha B., Harlow E., Livingston D. M. Interaction of p107 with cyclin A independent of complex formation with viral oncoproteins. Science. 1992 Jan 3;255(5040):85–87. doi: 10.1126/science.1532457. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Faha B., Ewen M. E., Tsai L. H., Livingston D. M., Harlow E. Interaction between human cyclin A and adenovirus E1A-associated p107 protein. Science. 1992 Jan 3;255(5040):87–90. doi: 10.1126/science.1532458. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Fondell J. D., Roy A. L., Roeder R. G. Unliganded thyroid hormone receptor inhibits formation of a functional preinitiation complex: implications for active repression. Genes Dev. 1993 Jul;7(7B):1400–1410. doi: 10.1101/gad.7.7b.1400. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Forman B. M., Chen J., Blumberg B., Kliewer S. A., Henshaw R., Ong E. S., Evans R. M. Cross-talk among ROR alpha 1 and the Rev-erb family of orphan nuclear receptors. Mol Endocrinol. 1994 Sep;8(9):1253–1261. doi: 10.1210/mend.8.9.7838158. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Forman B. M., Samuels H. H. Interactions among a subfamily of nuclear hormone receptors: the regulatory zipper model. Mol Endocrinol. 1990 Sep;4(9):1293–1301. doi: 10.1210/mend-4-9-1293. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Goodrich J. A., Hoey T., Thut C. J., Admon A., Tjian R. Drosophila TAFII40 interacts with both a VP16 activation domain and the basal transcription factor TFIIB. Cell. 1993 Nov 5;75(3):519–530. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(93)90386-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Graupner G., Wills K. N., Tzukerman M., Zhang X. K., Pfahl M. Dual regulatory role for thyroid-hormone receptors allows control of retinoic-acid receptor activity. Nature. 1989 Aug 24;340(6235):653–656. doi: 10.1038/340653a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Halachmi S., Marden E., Martin G., MacKay H., Abbondanza C., Brown M. Estrogen receptor-associated proteins: possible mediators of hormone-induced transcription. Science. 1994 Jun 3;264(5164):1455–1458. doi: 10.1126/science.8197458. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Harding H. P., Lazar M. A. The monomer-binding orphan receptor Rev-Erb represses transcription as a dimer on a novel direct repeat. Mol Cell Biol. 1995 Sep;15(9):4791–4802. doi: 10.1128/mcb.15.9.4791. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Harding H. P., Lazar M. A. The orphan receptor Rev-ErbA alpha activates transcription via a novel response element. Mol Cell Biol. 1993 May;13(5):3113–3121. doi: 10.1128/mcb.13.5.3113. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Herschbach B. M., Arnaud M. B., Johnson A. D. Transcriptional repression directed by the yeast alpha 2 protein in vitro. Nature. 1994 Jul 28;370(6487):309–311. doi: 10.1038/370309a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Hope I. A., Struhl K. Functional dissection of a eukaryotic transcriptional activator protein, GCN4 of yeast. Cell. 1986 Sep 12;46(6):885–894. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90070-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Husmann M., Hoffmann B., Stump D. G., Chytil F., Pfahl M. A retinoic acid response element from the rat CRBPI promoter is activated by an RAR/RXR heterodimer. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1992 Sep 30;187(3):1558–1564. doi: 10.1016/0006-291x(92)90480-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Hörlein A. J., När A. M., Heinzel T., Torchia J., Gloss B., Kurokawa R., Ryan A., Kamei Y., Söderström M., Glass C. K. Ligand-independent repression by the thyroid hormone receptor mediated by a nuclear receptor co-repressor. Nature. 1995 Oct 5;377(6548):397–404. doi: 10.1038/377397a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Katz D., Berrodin T. J., Lazar M. A. The unique C-termini of the thyroid hormone receptor variant, c-erbA alpha 2, and thyroid hormone receptor alpha 1 mediate different DNA-binding and heterodimerization properties. Mol Endocrinol. 1992 May;6(5):805–814. doi: 10.1210/mend.6.5.1318505. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Katz D., Lazar M. A. Dominant negative activity of an endogenous thyroid hormone receptor variant (alpha 2) is due to competition for binding sites on target genes. J Biol Chem. 1993 Oct 5;268(28):20904–20910. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Kurokawa R., Söderström M., Hörlein A., Halachmi S., Brown M., Rosenfeld M. G., Glass C. K. Polarity-specific activities of retinoic acid receptors determined by a co-repressor. Nature. 1995 Oct 5;377(6548):451–454. doi: 10.1038/377451a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Lazar M. A., Hodin R. A., Darling D. S., Chin W. W. A novel member of the thyroid/steroid hormone receptor family is encoded by the opposite strand of the rat c-erbA alpha transcriptional unit. Mol Cell Biol. 1989 Mar;9(3):1128–1136. doi: 10.1128/mcb.9.3.1128. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Le Douarin B., Zechel C., Garnier J. M., Lutz Y., Tora L., Pierrat P., Heery D., Gronemeyer H., Chambon P., Losson R. The N-terminal part of TIF1, a putative mediator of the ligand-dependent activation function (AF-2) of nuclear receptors, is fused to B-raf in the oncogenic protein T18. EMBO J. 1995 May 1;14(9):2020–2033. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1995.tb07194.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Lee J. W., Ryan F., Swaffield J. C., Johnston S. A., Moore D. D. Interaction of thyroid-hormone receptor with a conserved transcriptional mediator. Nature. 1995 Mar 2;374(6517):91–94. doi: 10.1038/374091a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Ma J., Ptashne M. A new class of yeast transcriptional activators. Cell. 1987 Oct 9;51(1):113–119. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90015-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  38. Margolin J. F., Friedman J. R., Meyer W. K., Vissing H., Thiesen H. J., Rauscher F. J., 3rd Krüppel-associated boxes are potent transcriptional repression domains. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1994 May 10;91(10):4509–4513. doi: 10.1073/pnas.91.10.4509. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  39. Marshall H., Studer M., Pöpperl H., Aparicio S., Kuroiwa A., Brenner S., Krumlauf R. A conserved retinoic acid response element required for early expression of the homeobox gene Hoxb-1. Nature. 1994 Aug 18;370(6490):567–571. doi: 10.1038/370567a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  40. Mermod N., O'Neill E. A., Kelly T. J., Tjian R. The proline-rich transcriptional activator of CTF/NF-I is distinct from the replication and DNA binding domain. Cell. 1989 Aug 25;58(4):741–753. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90108-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  41. Miyajima N., Horiuchi R., Shibuya Y., Fukushige S., Matsubara K., Toyoshima K., Yamamoto T. Two erbA homologs encoding proteins with different T3 binding capacities are transcribed from opposite DNA strands of the same genetic locus. Cell. 1989 Apr 7;57(1):31–39. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(89)90169-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  42. Ogura T., Evans R. M. Evidence for two distinct retinoic acid response pathways for HOXB1 gene regulation. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1995 Jan 17;92(2):392–396. doi: 10.1073/pnas.92.2.392. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  43. Oñate S. A., Tsai S. Y., Tsai M. J., O'Malley B. W. Sequence and characterization of a coactivator for the steroid hormone receptor superfamily. Science. 1995 Nov 24;270(5240):1354–1357. doi: 10.1126/science.270.5240.1354. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  44. Renaud J. P., Rochel N., Ruff M., Vivat V., Chambon P., Gronemeyer H., Moras D. Crystal structure of the RAR-gamma ligand-binding domain bound to all-trans retinoic acid. Nature. 1995 Dec 14;378(6558):681–689. doi: 10.1038/378681a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  45. Retnakaran R., Flock G., Giguère V. Identification of RVR, a novel orphan nuclear receptor that acts as a negative transcriptional regulator. Mol Endocrinol. 1994 Sep;8(9):1234–1244. doi: 10.1210/mend.8.9.7838156. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  46. Russo M. W., Sevetson B. R., Milbrandt J. Identification of NAB1, a repressor of NGFI-A- and Krox20-mediated transcription. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1995 Jul 18;92(15):6873–6877. doi: 10.1073/pnas.92.15.6873. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  47. Sauer F., Fondell J. D., Ohkuma Y., Roeder R. G., Jäckle H. Control of transcription by Krüppel through interactions with TFIIB and TFIIE beta. Nature. 1995 May 11;375(6527):162–164. doi: 10.1038/375162a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  48. Seol W., Choi H. S., Moore D. D. Isolation of proteins that interact specifically with the retinoid X receptor: two novel orphan receptors. Mol Endocrinol. 1995 Jan;9(1):72–85. doi: 10.1210/mend.9.1.7760852. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  49. Smith W. C., Nakshatri H., Leroy P., Rees J., Chambon P. A retinoic acid response element is present in the mouse cellular retinol binding protein I (mCRBPI) promoter. EMBO J. 1991 Aug;10(8):2223–2230. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1991.tb07758.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  50. Tjian R., Maniatis T. Transcriptional activation: a complex puzzle with few easy pieces. Cell. 1994 Apr 8;77(1):5–8. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(94)90227-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  51. Treitel M. A., Carlson M. Repression by SSN6-TUP1 is directed by MIG1, a repressor/activator protein. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1995 Apr 11;92(8):3132–3136. doi: 10.1073/pnas.92.8.3132. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  52. Tzamarias D., Struhl K. Distinct TPR motifs of Cyc8 are involved in recruiting the Cyc8-Tup1 corepressor complex to differentially regulated promoters. Genes Dev. 1995 Apr 1;9(7):821–831. doi: 10.1101/gad.9.7.821. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  53. Um M., Li C., Manley J. L. The transcriptional repressor even-skipped interacts directly with TATA-binding protein. Mol Cell Biol. 1995 Sep;15(9):5007–5016. doi: 10.1128/mcb.15.9.5007. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  54. Wagner R. L., Apriletti J. W., McGrath M. E., West B. L., Baxter J. D., Fletterick R. J. A structural role for hormone in the thyroid hormone receptor. Nature. 1995 Dec 14;378(6558):690–697. doi: 10.1038/378690a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  55. Zawel L., Reinberg D. Common themes in assembly and function of eukaryotic transcription complexes. Annu Rev Biochem. 1995;64:533–561. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.64.070195.002533. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Molecular and Cellular Biology are provided here courtesy of Taylor & Francis

RESOURCES