TRIM24 mediates the interaction of the retinoic acid receptor alpha with the proteasome

The nuclear retinoic acid (RA) receptors (RARalpha, beta and gamma) are ligand-dependent regulators of transcription. Upon activation by RA, they are recruited at the promoters of target genes together with several coregulators. Then, they are degraded by the ubiquitin proteasome system. Here, we report that the degradation of the RARalpha subtype involves ubiquitination and the tripartite motif protein TRIM24, which was originally identified as a ligand-dependent corepressor of RARalpha. We show that in response to RA, TRIM24 serves as an adapter linking RARalpha to the proteasome for its degradation. In addition, TRIM24 and the proteasome are recruited with RARalpha to the promoters of target genes and thus are inherently linked to RARalpha transcriptional activity

TRIM

The nuclear retinoic acid (RA) receptors (RARalpha, beta and gamma) are ligand-dependent regulators of transcription. Upon activation by RA, they are recruited at the promoters of target genes together with several coregulators. Then, they are degraded by the ubiquitin proteasome system. Here, we report that the degradation of the RARalpha subtype involves ubiquitination and the tripartite motif protein TRIM24, which was originally identified as a ligand-dependent corepressor of RARalpha. We show that in response to RA, TRIM24 serves as an adapter linking RARalpha to the proteasome for its degradation. In addition, TRIM24 and the proteasome are recruited with RARalpha to the promoters of target genes and thus are inherently linked to RARalpha transcriptional activity

Genes involved in cell adhesion and signaling: a new repertoire of retinoic acid receptor target genes in mouse embryonic fibroblasts

Nuclear retinoic acid (RA) receptors (RARalpha, beta and gamma) are ligand-dependent transcription factors that regulate the expression of a battery of genes involved in cell differentiation and proliferation. They are also phosphoproteins and we previously showed the importance of their phosphorylation in their transcriptional activity. In the study reported here, we conducted a genome-wide analysis of the genes that are regulated by RARs in mouse embryonic fibroblasts (MEFs) by comparing wild-type MEFs to MEFs lacking the three RARs. We found that in the absence of RA, RARs control the expression of several gene transcripts associated with cell adhesion. Consequently the knockout MEFs are unable to adhere and to spread on substrates and they display a disrupted network of actin filaments, compared with the WT cells. In contrast, in the presence of the ligand, RARs control the expression of other genes involved in signaling and in RA metabolism. Taking advantage of rescue cell lines expressing the RARalpha or RARgamma subtypes (either wild-type or mutated at the N-terminal phosphorylation sites) in the null background, we found that the expression of RA-target genes can be controlled either by a specific single RAR or by a combination of RAR isotypes, depending on the gene. We also selected genes that require the phosphorylation of the receptors for their regulation by RA. Our results increase the repertoire of genes that are regulated by RARs and highlight the complexity and diversity of the transcriptional programs regulated by RARs, depending on the gene

J Cell Sci

Retinoic acid (RA) plays key roles in cell differentiation and growth arrest by activating nuclear RA receptors (RARs) (alpha, beta and gamma), which are ligand-dependent transcription factors. RARs are also phosphorylated in response to RA. Here, we investigated the in vivo relevance of the phosphorylation of RARs during RA-induced neuronal differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs). Using ESCs where the genes encoding each RAR subtype had been inactivated, and stable rescue lines expressing RARs mutated in phospho-acceptor sites, we show that RA-induced neuronal differentiation involves RARgamma2 and requires RARgamma2 phosphorylation. By gene expression profiling, we found that the phosphorylated form of RARgamma2 regulates a small subset of genes through binding an unusual RA response element consisting of two direct repeats with a seven-base-pair spacer. These new findings suggest an important role for RARgamma phosphorylation during cell differentiation and pave the way for further investigations during embryonic development

PGC1alpha expression is controlled in skeletal muscles by PPARbeta, whose ablation results in fiber-type switching, obesity, and type 2 diabetes.

Mice in which peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor beta (PPARbeta) is selectively ablated in skeletal muscle myocytes were generated to elucidate the role played by PPARbeta signaling in these myocytes. These somatic mutant mice exhibited a muscle fiber-type switching toward lower oxidative capacity that preceded the development of obesity and diabetes, thus demonstrating that PPARbeta is instrumental in myocytes to the maintenance of oxidative fibers and that fiber-type switching is likely to be the cause and not the consequence of these metabolic disorders. We also show that PPARbeta stimulates in myocytes the expression of PGC1alpha, a coactivator of various transcription factors, known to play an important role in slow muscle fiber formation. Moreover, as the PGC1alpha promoter contains a PPAR response element, the effect of PPARbeta on the formation and/or maintenance of slow muscle fibers can be ascribed, at least in part, to a stimulation of PGC1alpha expression at the transcriptional level