Analysis of protein dimerization and ligand binding of orphan receptor HNF4alpha.

Hepatocyte nuclear factor 4alpha (HNF4alpha) (NR2A1), an orphan member of the nuclear receptor superfamily, binds DNA exclusively as a homodimer even though it is very similar in amino acid sequence to retinoid X receptor alpha (RXRalpha), which heterodimerizes readily with other receptors. Here, experimental analysis of residues involved in protein dimerization and studies on a reported ligand for HNF4alpha are combined with a structural model of the HNF4alpha ligand-binding domain (LBD) (residues 137 to 384). When K300 (in helix 9) and E327 (in helix 10) of HNF4alpha1 were converted to the analogous residues in RXRalpha (E390 and K417, respectively) the resulting construct did not heterodimerize with the wild-type HNF4alpha, although it was still able to form homodimers and bind DNA. Furthermore, the double mutant did not heterodimerize with RXR or RAR but was still able to dimerize in solution with an HNF4alpha construct truncated at amino acid residue 268. This suggests that the charge compatibility between helices 9 and 10 is necessary, but not sufficient, to determine dimerization partners, and that additional residues in the HNF4alpha LBD are also important in dimerization. The structural model of the HNF4alpha LBD and an amino acid sequence alignment of helices 9 and 10 in various HNF4 and other receptor genes indicates that a K(X)(26)E motif can be used to identify HNF4 genes from other organisms and that a (E/D(X)(26-29)K/R) motif can be used to predict heterodimerization of many, but not all, receptors with RXR. In vitro analysis of another HNF4alpha mutant construct indicates that helix 10 also plays a structural role in the conformational integrity of HNF4alpha. The structural model and experimental analysis indicate that fatty acyl CoA thioesters, the proposed HNF4alpha ligands, are not good candidates for a traditional ligand for HNF4alpha. Finally, these results provide insight into the mechanism of action of naturally occurring mutations in the human HNF4alpha gene found in patients with maturity onset diabetes of the young 1 (MODY1).

Modulation of transcriptional activation and coactivator interaction by a splicing variation in the F domain of nuclear receptor hepatocyte nuclear factor 4alpha1.

Transcription factors, such as nuclear receptors, often exist in various forms that are generated by highly conserved splicing events. Whereas the functional significance of these splicing variants is often not known, it is known that nuclear receptors activate transcription through interaction with coactivators. The parameters, other than ligands, that might modulate those interactions, however, are not well characterized, nor is the role of splicing variants. In this study, transient transfection, yeast two-hybrid, and GST pulldown assays are used to show not only that nuclear receptor hepatocyte nuclear factor 4 alpha1 (HNF4alpha1, NR2A1) interacts with GRIP1, and other coactivators, in the absence of ligand but also that the uncommonly large F domain in the C terminus of the receptor inhibits that interaction. In vitro, the F domain was found to obscure an AF-2-independent binding site for GRIP1 that did not map to nuclear receptor boxes II or III. The results also show that a natural splicing variant containing a 10-amino-acid insert in the middle of the F domain (HNF4alpha2) abrogates that inhibition in vivo and in vitro. A series of protease digestion assays indicates that there may be structural differences between HNF4alpha1 and HNF4alpha2 in the F domain as well as in the ligand binding domain (LBD). The data also suggest that there is a direct physical contact between the F domain and the LBD of HNF4alpha1 and -alpha2 and that that contact is different in the HNF4alpha1 and HNF4alpha2 isoforms. Finally, we propose a model in which the F domain of HNF4alpha1 acts as a negative regulatory region for transactivation and in which the alpha2 insert ameliorates the negative effect of the F domain. A conserved repressor sequence in the F domains of HNF4alpha1 and -alpha2 suggests that this model may be relevant to other nuclear receptors as well.