Mechanism of dioxin action: receptor-enhancer interactions in intact cells.

We have used a ligation-mediated polymerase chain reaction technique to analyze protein-DNA interactions at a dioxin-responsive enhancer upstream of the CYP1A1 gene in intact mouse hepatoma cells. In its inactive state, the enhancer binds few, if any, proteins within the major DNA groove in vivo. Thus, the inactive enhancer is relatively inaccessible to DNA-binding proteins. Exposure of cells to 2,3,7,8-tetrachlorodibenzo-p-dioxin leads to the binding of the liganded Ah receptor at six sites within the major DNA groove of the enhancer. The receptor-enhancer interactions occur rapidly and do not require ongoing transcription, consistent with their role in regulating CYP1A1 gene expression. The liganded receptor, which is a heteromer composed of at least two basic helix-loop-helix proteins, is probably the only DNA-binding transcription factor necessary to activate the enhancer in vivo. The small size and irregular distribution of receptor binding sites suggest that chromatin structure imposes substantial steric constraints upon the function of the receptor-enhancer system in intact cells.