Synergistic activation of the HTLV1 LTR Ets-responsive region by transcription factors Ets1 and Sp1

Abstract

Ets1 is the prototype of a family of transcriptional activators whose activity depends on the binding to specific DNA sequences characterized by an invariant GGA core sequence. We have previously demonstrated that transcriptional activation by Ets1 of the long terminal repeat (LTR) of human T cell lymphotropic virus type 1 is strictly dependent on the binding of Ets1 to two sites, ERE-A and ERE-B, localized in a 44 bp long Ets-responsive region (ERR1). We report here that the activity of ERR1 as an efficient Ets1 response element in HeLa cells also depends on the integrity of an Sp1 binding site localized immediately upstream of ERE-A. The response to Ets1 of an element restricted to the SP1/ERE-A binding sites is also strictly dependent on both the Ets1 and Sp1 binding sites. In vitro, Sp1 and Ets1 are shown to cooperate to form a ternary complex with the SP1/ERE-A element. Reconstitution experiments in Drosophila melanogaster Schneider cells show that Ets1 and Sp1 act synergistically to activate transcription from either the ERR1 or the SP1/ERE-A elements and that synergy requires the binding of both Sp1 and Ets1 to their cognate sites. SP1/ERE-A elements are found in the enhancer/promoter region of several cellular genes, suggesting that synergy between Ets1 and Sp1 is not restricted to the ERR1 region of the HTLV1 LTR. These results strengthen the notion that Ets1 as well as other members of the Ets family usually function as components of larger transcription complexes to regulate the activity of a variety of viral and cellular genes.