Covalent and noncovalent receptor-glucocorticoid complexes preferentially bind to the same regions of the long terminal repeat of murine mammary tumor virus proviral DNA.

Dexamethasone 21-mesylate, an irreversible antiglucocorticoid in HTC cells, forms a covalent receptor-steroid complex which can be activated in cell-free systems. The molecular basis of its antiglucocorticoid activity is unknown; it might result from altered DNA sequence preferences and/or affinities of the covalent receptor-steroid complex. To test this hypothesis, the affinities of both covalent receptor-antagonist and noncovalent receptor-agonist complexes for defined DNA sequences were measured in a DNA binding competition assay. This assay requires neither purified complexes nor large quantities of DNA, yet it provides quantitative comparisons of the affinities of different double-stranded DNAs for binding receptor-steroid complexes. In this assay, activated covalent receptor-dexamethasone 21-mesylate complexes in crude cytosol bound to calf thymus DNA and cloned subregions of the long terminal repeat (LTR) of murine mammary tumor virus (MMTV) proviral DNA with approximately the same relative affinities as did noncovalent receptor-dexamethasone complexes. Both types of complex exhibited similar orders of preferential binding to DNA sequences. LTR subregions, as well as the entire LTR, were 2-20 times more potent competitors than calf thymus DNA. Cloned sequences from the 3' terminus of the LTR were more effective competitors than either the entire LTR or comparably sized DNAs from the 5' terminus. The DNA sequences with the greatest affinities for both covalent and noncovalent complexes are located within the region of -221 to -67. These studies support the theory that recognition by regulatory elements of specific DNA sequences upstream of responsive genes is an integral step of hormone action.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)