| First Author | Bhardwaj A | Year | 2022 |
| Journal | Endocrinology | Volume | 163 |
| Issue | 1 | PubMed ID | 34902009 |
| Mgi Jnum | J:323865 | Mgi Id | MGI:7264854 |
| Doi | 10.1210/endocr/bqab237 | Citation | Bhardwaj A, et al. (2022) Concordant Androgen-Regulated Expression of Divergent Rhox5 Promoters in Sertoli Cells. Endocrinology 163(1) |
| abstractText | Concordant transcriptional regulation can generate multiple gene products that collaborate to achieve a common goal. Here we report a case of concordant transcriptional regulation that instead drives a single protein to be produced in the same cell type from divergent promoters. This gene product-the RHOX5 homeobox transcription factor-is translated from 2 different mRNAs with different 5' untranslated regions (UTRs) transcribed from alternative promoters. Despite the fact that these 2 promoters-the proximal promoter (Pp) and the distal promoter (Pd)-exhibit different patterns of tissue-specific activity, share no obvious sequence identity, and depend on distinct transcription factors for expression, they exhibit a remarkably similar expression pattern in the testes. In particular, both depend on androgen signaling for expression in the testes, where they are specifically expressed in Sertoli cells and have a similar stage-specific expression pattern during the seminiferous epithelial cycle. We report evidence for 3 mechanisms that collaborate to drive concordant Pp/Pd expression. First, both promoters have an intrinsic ability to respond to androgen receptor and androgen. Second, the Pp acts as an enhancer to promote androgen-dependent transcription from the Pd. Third, Pd transcription is positively autoregulated by the RHOX5 protein, which is first produced developmentally from the Pp. Together, our data support a model in which the Rhox5 homeobox gene evolved multiple mechanisms to activate both of its promoters in Sertoli cells to produce Rhox5 in an androgen-dependent manner during different phases of spermatogenesis. |
