Transient recruitment of the hnRNP K protein to inducibly transcribed gene loci

The heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein K protein is an RNA- and DNA-binding protein implicated in the regulation of multiple processes that comprise gene expression. We used chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) assays to explore K protein interactions with serum-inducible, constitutively expressed and untranscribed gene loci in vivo. In the rat HTC-IR hepatoma cell line, serum treatment induced transient increases in the mRNA levels of two immediate-early genes, egr-1 and c-myc. ChIP analysis showed that the induction of egr-1 and c-myc genes was associated with a transient recruitment of K protein to multiple sites within each of these loci, including the promoter and transcribed regions. In contrast, recruitment of K protein to the constitutively transcribed beta-actin locus and to randomly chosen non-transcribed loci was far weaker. In rat mesangial cells, c-myc was constitutively expressed while egr-1 remained serum responsive. In these cells, ChIP analysis showed serum-induced recruitment to the inducible egr-1 but not to the c-myc locus. Pre-treatment with the transcription inhibitor actinomycin D blocked the inducible but not the constitutive binding of K protein to these loci. Taken together, the results of this study suggest that the transient recruitment of K protein to serum-responsive loci depends on the inducible transcription of these immediate-early genes.