Half-site arrangement of hybrid glucocorticoid and thyroid hormone response elements specifies thyroid hormone...

Thyroid hormone receptors bind to thyroid hormone response elements (TREs) as heterodimers with 3,5,3'-L-triiodothyronine (T3) receptor auxiliary protein (TRAP) and retinoid X receptors (RXRs). Currently, it is not known whether TR/TRAP or TR/RXR heterodimers need to bind to both TRE half-sites and whether there is a preferred orientation for TR/RXR heterodimer binding to TREs or transcriptional activation. Accordingly, we created a mutant TR alpha (TR-P box) by changing 3 amino acids in the P box region of the first zinc finger of the DNA-binding domain to that of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR), and we examined wild-type TR alpha and TR-P box complex binding to hybrid response elements containing TRE and glucocorticoid receptor element (GRE) half-sites arranged as a direct repeat with a four-nucleotide gap. TR-P box/RXR heterodimers selectively bound to the hybrid response elements in which GRE half-site was the downstream half-site, whereas TR alpha/RXR bound to hybrid response elements in which GREs were in either position. Additionally, TR/TRAP or TR/RXR heterodimer required two half-sites for binding to DNA, with strong binding to at least one of the half-sites. Last, co-transfection assays and methylation interference studies using the hybrid response elements suggest that the sequential arrangement of strong and weak half-sites in the TRE may be a critical determinant of TR/RXR heterodimer binding and transcriptional activation.