Localization of an adipocyte-specific retinoic acid response domain controlling S14 gene transcription.

S14 gene transcription is induced by retinoic acid (RA) in cultured adipocytes, but not preadipocytes. Transfection of 3T3-L1 cells with S14-CAT fusion genes showed that adipocyte-specific RA responsive cis-acting elements are located between -1588 and -1381 bp upstream from the 5' end of the S14 gene. This region has enhancer-like properties. In contrast, an artificial RA response element conferred RA control to a CAT gene in both preadipocyte and adipocyte phenotypes indicating that the RA regulatory network is functional in both phenotypes. These studies show that RA receptors interact with adipocyte-specific transcription factors to control S14 gene expression.