Independent glucocorticoid induction and repression of two contiguous responsive genes

Specific DNA sequence elements which contain binding sites for the glucocorticoid receptor mediate the action of glucocorticoid hormones on gene transcription. In glucocorticoid-inducible genes, these glucocorticoid-responsive elements behave as hormone-inducible enhancers of transcription. We have taken advantage of the bovine papillomavirus (BPV) system to test the stringency of glucocorticoid regulation of transcription. BPV episomes were constructed to contain two hormone-regulated transcription units in close proximity; one transcription unit is under control of a glucocorticoid-inducible promoter (mouse mammary tumor virus) while the other is under control of a glucocorticoid-inhibited promoter (pro-opiomelanocortin). Glucocorticoids independently regulated transcription of the two physically linked transcription units, irrespective of their relative orientation and of their proximity on the BPV episomes. This result contrasts with the so-called position-independent activity of enhancers and suggests that the multicomponent organization of eucaryotic promoters restricts the action of hormone-responsive regulatory elements to a specific transcription unit, thus accounting for the stringency of hormonal regulation observed in vivo.