Genome-wide analysis of murine renal distal convoluted tubular cells for the target genes of mineralocorticoid receptor

Background and objective: Mineralocorticoid receptor (MR) is a member of nuclear receptor family proteins and contributes to fluid homeostasis in the kidney. Although aldosterone-MR pathway induces several gene expressions in the kidney, it is often unclear whether the gene expressions are accompanied by direct regulations of MR through its binding to the regulatory region of each gene. The purpose of this study is to identify the direct target genes of MR in a murine distal convoluted tubular epithelial cell-line (mDCT). Methods: We analyzed the DNA samples of mDCT cells overexpressing 3xFLAG-hMR after treatment with 10(-7) M aldosterone for 1 h by chromatin immunoprecipitation with deep-sequence (ChIP-seq) and mRNA of the cell-line with treatment of 10(-7) M aldosterone for 3 h by microarray. Results: 3xFLAG-hMR overexpressed in mDCT cells accumulated in the nucleus in response to 10(-9) M aldosterone. Twenty-five genes were indicated as the candidate target genes of MR by ChIP-seq and microarray analyses. Five genes, Sgk1, Fkbp5, Rasl12, Tns1 and Tsc22d3 (Gilz), were validated as the direct target genes of MR by quantitative RT-qPCR and ChIP-qPCR. MR binding regions adjacent to Ctgf and Serpine1 were also validated. Conclusions: We, for the first time, captured the genome-wide distribution of MR in mDCT cells and, furthermore, identified five MR target genes in the cell-line. These results will contribute to further studies on the mechanisms of kidney diseases. (C) 2014 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.