The Aspergillus nidulans multimeric CCAAT binding complex AnCF is negatively autoregulated via its hapB subunit gene

Cis-acting CCAAT elements are frequently found in eukaryotic promoter regions. Many of them are bound by conserved multimeric complexes. In the fungus Aspergillus nidulans the respective complex was designated AnCF (A. nidulans CCAAT binding factor). AnCF is composed of at least three subunits designated HapB, HapC and HapE. Here, we show that the promoter regions of the hapB genes in both A. nidulans and Aspergillus oryzae contain two inversely oriented, conserved CCAAT boxes (box α and box β). Electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs) using both nuclear extracts and the purified, reconstituted AnCF complex indicated that AnCF binding in vitro to these boxes occurs in a non-mutually exclusive manner. Western and Northern blot analyses showed that steady-state levels of HapB protein as well as hapB mRNA were elevated in hapC and hapE deletion mutants, suggesting a repressing effect of AnCF on hapB expression. Consistently, in a hapB deletion background the hapB-lacZ expression level was elevated compared with the expression in the wild-type. This was further supported by overexpression of hapB using an inducible alcA-hapB construct. Induction of alcA-hapB expression strongly repressed the expression of a hapB-lacZ gene fusion. However, mutagenesis of box β led to a fivefold reduced expression of a hapB-lacZ gene fusion compared with the expression derived from a wild-type hapB-lacZ fusion. These results indicate that (i) box β is an important positive cis-acting element in hapB regulation, (ii) AnCF does not represent the corresponding positive trans-acting factor and (iii) that AnCF is involved in repression of hapB.