Upstream CREs participate in the basal activity of minute virus of mice promoter P4 and in its stimulation in ras-transformed cells.

The activity of the P4 promoter of the parvovirus minute virus of mice (prototype strain MVMp) is stimulated in ras-transformed FREJ4 cells compared with the parental FR3T3 line. This activation may participate in the oncolytic effect of parvoviruses, given that P4 drives a transcriptional unit encoding cytotoxic nonstructural proteins. Our results suggest that the higher transcriptional activity of promoter P4 in FREJ4 cells is mediated at least in part by upstream CRE elements. Accordingly, mutations in the CRE motifs impair P4 function more strongly in the FREJ4 derivative than in its FR3T3 parent. Further evidence that these elements contribute to hyperactivity of the P4 promoter in the ras transformant is the fact that they form distinct complexes with proteins from FREJ4 and FR3T3 cell extracts. This difference can be abolished by treating the FREJ4 cell extracts with cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase (PKA) or treating original cultures with a PKA activator. These findings can be linked with two previously reported features of ras-transformed cells: the activation of a PKA-inhibited protein kinase cascade and the reduction of PKA-induced protein phosphorylation. In keeping with these facts, P4-directed gene expression can be up- or downmodulated in vivo by exposing cells to known inhibitors or activators of PKA, respectively.