Elements in the immunoglobulin heavy-chain enhancer directly regulate simian virus 40 ori-dependent DNA replication

In a previous study, we showed that the immunoglobulin heavy-chain (IgH) enhancer (IgHe) is near or in an initiation zone of chromosomal DNA replication, which is preferentially active in B cells (K. Ariizumi, Z. Wang, and P. W. Tucker, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90:3695-3699, 1993). This suggests the existence of a functional relationship between IgHe-mediated transcription and DNA replication. To test this theory, we utilized simian virus 40 (SV40) DNA replication as a model of chromosomal replication. IgHe or its operationally divisible domains (5′-En, core, and 3′-En) were introduced into SV40 minichromosomes (IgHe-SV40). Results of replication assays with IgHe-SV40 replicons indicated that the 5′-En and 3′-En activated or suppressed SV40 DNA replication regardless of the presence of SV40 enhancers or promoters in these replicons. The activity did not reside in IgHe core sequences. The results suggested that the 5′- and 3′-En regulated SV40 replication through direct interaction with the origin, not through suppression at the SV40 enhancer and/or promoter. In an effort to identify elements within the 5′-En motif that contributed to this effect, we found that the E site, but not μE5 and μE2 boxes, upregulated DNA replication. Our results provide another possible regulatory function for the 5′-En and 3′-En domains besides transcriptional suppression of IgHe.