Transcriptional analysis of acetylcholine receptor alpha 3 gene promoter motifs that bind Sp1 and AP2

In this study, we performed an analysis of the neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor alpha 3 subunit gene promoter region, -238/+47, to identify cis and trans elements that are important for basal activity in PC12 cells. Sequence analyses of the alpha 3 promoter and footprint assays revealed an Sp1 binding site between -79 and -57 (termed the alpha 3 GA motif) and an AP2 binding site between -30 and -7. Using mobility shift analysis, we found that PC12 cell extracts contain proteins that specifically bind to the alpha 3 GA motif and are immunologically related to Sp1. Mutation of the alpha 3 GA motif, which prevented binding of Sp1, resulted in a 75% decrease in promoter activity. Mutation of the AP2 site resulted in only a minor loss of promoter activity, which is consistent with the lack of AP2 binding activity in PC12 extracts. In Drosophila Schneider line 2 (S2) cell cotransfection assays, Sp1 activated the alpha 3 promoter in a GA motif-dependent manner. Furthermore, multimerization of the GA motif upstream of the beta-globin TATA box conferred Sp1 responsiveness. Our results indicate that Sp1 can activate transcription through direct interaction with the alpha 3 GA motif and that this motif plays a major role in alpha 3 promoter basal activity in PC12 cells.