The PEA3 protein of the Ets oncogene family is a putative transcriptional modulator of the mouse epididymis-specific glutathione peroxidase gene gpx5.

This report presents data that suggest that the tissue-restricted polyoma enhancer activator protein (PEA3) of the Ets oncogene family of DNA-binding proteins is a putative modulator of the epididymis-specific glutathione peroxidase 5 gene gpx5. Northern and polymerase chain reactions on reverse-transcribed epididymal RNAs were used to show that the PEA3 factor is spatially and temporally expressed within the mouse epididymis in a manner consistent with gpx5 characteristics of expression. Then, using contransfection experiments carried out in heterologous tissue-culture cells with various deletions of the gpx5 promoter driving a CAT reporter gene, we have shown that the transcriptional activity of the gpx5 promoter is modulated by the presence of the PEA3 protein. Subsequently, we have shown using gel-shift assays that DNA sequences located within the 5' flanking region of the gpx5 gene have the ability to bind specifically to the PEA3 protein. Finally, using Northern assays we present data that suggest that PEA3 mRNA accumulation in the mouse caput epididymidis is controlled by androgens and testicular factors. Altogether, these results strongly suggest that the PEA3 factor might participate in the transcriptional control of the murine epididymis caput-specific gpx5 gene.