Factor-assisted DNA binding as a possible general mechanism for steroid receptors. Functional heterogeneity among activated receptor-steroid complexes.

We previously reported that activated glucocorticoid receptor-steroid complexes from rat HTC cell cytosol exist as at least two sub-populations, one of which requires a low molecular weight (700-3000 Da) factor(s) for binding to DNA. This factor is removed by Sephadex G-50 chromatography and is found predominantly in extracts of crude HTC cell nuclei. We have now determined that factor is not limited to HTC cells since an apparently identical factor(s) was found in nuclear extracts of rat kidney and liver as well as human HeLa and MCF-7 cells. Furthermore, the DNA binding of a sub-population of human glucocorticoid receptors depends on factor. While these results were obtained with agonist (dexamethasone) bound receptors, a sub-population of HTC cell receptors covalently labeled by the antiglucocorticoid dexamethasone 21-mesylate also displayed factor-dependent DNA binding. This receptor heterogeneity was not an artifact of cell-free activation since the cell-free nuclear binding of dexamethasone mesylate labeled complexes was, as in intact cells, less than that for dexamethasone bound complexes. Earlier results suggested that the increased DNA binding with factor involved a direct interaction of receptor with factor(s). We now find that the factor-induced DNA binding is retained by amino terminal truncated (42 kDa) glucocorticoid receptors from HTC cells. Thus the ability of receptor to interact with factor(s) is encoded by the DNA and/or steroid binding domains. Two dimensional gel electrophoresis analysis of dexamethasone-mesylate labeled 98 kDa receptors revealed multiple charged isoforms for both sub-populations but no differences in the amount of the various isoforms in each sub-population. Finally, activated progesterone and estrogen receptor complexes were also found to be heterogeneous, with a similar, if not identical, small molecular weight factor(s) being required for the DNA binding of one sub-population. The observations that functional heterogeneity of receptors is not unique to glucocorticoid receptors, whether bound by an agonist or antagonist, and that the factor(s) is neither species nor tissue specific suggests that factor-assisted DNA binding may be a general mechanism for all steroid receptors.