Functional analysis of regulatory regions upstream and in the first intron of the estrogen-responsive chicken very low density apolipoprotein II gene.

Estrogen regulates the expression of the yolk protein genes in the chicken liver during periods of egg laying. While all five of these genes, vitellogenins I, II, and III, very low density apolipoprotein II (apo VLDLII), and apolipoprotein B, respond to estrogen, individual controls are superimposed on their coordinate regulation with respect to the kinetics of induction, magnitude of response, and developmental expression. The estrogen-responsive Leghorn strain M hepatoma (LMH) cell line provides a model system for studying the molecular basis of the similarities and differences in the regulation of these genes. The apoVLDLII gene is regulated by estrogen in LMH cells in an appropriate time- and dose-dependent manner. Regulatory regions of the apoVLDLII gene have been identified by transient transfection studies in LMH cells. All four of the sequences previously shown to bind protein between the TAATA motif at -26 and proximal estrogen response element at -171 are essential in regulation of the apoVLDLII gene. Mutation of any single binding region reduces expression by more than 80%, indicating cooperative interactions of proteins across the entire region. While these sequences will direct assembly of a functional transcription complex, we demonstrate that addition of the first intron of the apoVLDLII gene to the promoter construct results in a 4-fold increase in estrogen-dependent expression following transient transfection into LMH cells. Results of deletion analyses indicate that two distinct regions of the intron contribute to this regulation.