Two proximal activating protein-1-binding sites are sufficient to stimulate transcription of the ovine follicle-stimulating hormone-beta gene

FSH is an important regulator of mammalian gametogenesis and the female reproductive cycle. Although little is known about the transcriptional regulation of the beta-subunit (the rate-limiting subunit of FSH synthesis), sequence analysis of the ovine FSH beta promoter has revealed a number of potential activating protein-1 (AP-1; Jun/Fos)-binding sites. To determine whether the gene encoding the beta-subunit of ovine FSH (oFSH beta) is responsive to AP-1 transcriptional complexes, chimeric constructs containing deleted portions of the oFSH beta promoter fused to a luciferase reporter were transiently transfected along with c-Jun and c-Fos expression constructs into JAR cells. Analysis of these deletion constructs revealed that the proximal promoter of oFSH beta is highly stimulated by c-Jun and c-Fos proteins (typically 20-fold with a reporter construct containing oFSH beta sequences from -215 to +759 bp). This stimulation was lost when a similar construct containing sequences from -84 to +759 bp was tested. Transcriptional start site analysis using reverse transcription-PCR verified that the transcriptional initiation of the -215-bp deletion construct, with or without cotransfected c-Jun/c-Fos, was the same as that observed in vivo. Computer analysis of oFSH beta sequences from -215 to +1 bp identified four putative AP-1-like elements, located at -155, -120, -83, and -10 bp. Gel retardation experiments using oligonucleotides corresponding to the four putative AP-1-like sites revealed that only -120 and -83 sites in oFSH beta bound AP-1 proteins in vitro. Site-directed mutagenesis of the -120 and -83 sites showed that each element was required for stimulation by c-Jun and c-Fos proteins as well as 12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol-13-acetate in transient transfection assays. Finally, immunocytochemical dual labeling was used to show that more than 75% of all FSH beta-containing cells in ovine pituitary sections from cycling ewes contained nuclear c-Jun, JunB, JunD, and Fos proteins. These data, taken together, show that oFSH beta transcription can be stimulated by c-Jun and c-Fos proteins via two functionally linked AP-1-like sites in the oFSH beta proximal promoter and that these sites are likely to be important regulators of FSH production in vivo.