Estrogen prevents osteoporotic bone loss by attenuating bone resorption; however, the molecular basis for this is unknown. Here, we report a critical role for the osteoclastic estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) in mediating estrogen-dependent bone maintenance in female mice. We selectively ablated ERalpha in differentiated osteoclasts (ERalpha(DeltaOc/DeltaOc)) and found that ERalpha(DeltaOc/DeltaOc) females, but not males, exhibited trabecular bone loss, similar to the osteoporotic bone phenotype in postmenopausal women. Further, we show that estrogen induced apoptosis and upregulation of Fas ligand (FasL) expression in osteoclasts of the trabecular bones of WT but not ERalpha(DeltaOc/DeltaOc) mice. The expression of ERalpha was also required for the induction of apoptosis by tamoxifen and estrogen in cultured osteoclasts. Our results support a model in which estrogen regulates the life span of mature osteoclasts via the induction of the Fas/FasL system, thereby providing an explanation for the osteoprotective function of estrogen as well as SERMs.

Environmental contaminants affect a wide variety of biological events in many species. Dioxins are typical environmental contaminants that exert adverse oestrogen-related effects. Although their anti-oestrogenic actions are well described, dioxins can also induce endometriosis and oestrogen-dependent tumours, implying possible oestrogenic effects. However, the molecular mechanism underlying oestrogen-related actions of dioxins remains largely unknown. A heterodimer of the dioxin receptor (AhR) and Arnt, which are basic helix-loop-helix/PAS-family transcription factors, mediates most of the toxic effects of dioxins. Here we show that the agonist-activated AhR/Arnt heterodimer directly associates with oestrogen receptors ER-alpha and ER-beta. This association results in the recruitment of unliganded ER and the co-activator p300 to oestrogen-responsive gene promoters, leading to activation of transcription and oestrogenic effects. The function of liganded ER is attenuated. Oestrogenic actions of AhR agonists were detected in wild-type ovariectomized mouse uteri, but were absent in AhR-/- or ER-alpha-/- ovariectomized mice. Our findings suggest a novel mechanism by which ER-mediated oestrogen signalling is modulated by a co-regulatory-like function of activated AhR/Arnt, giving rise to adverse oestrogen-related actions of dioxin-type environmental contaminants.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) control cell proliferation, differentiation and fate through modulation of gene expression by partially base-pairing with target mRNA sequences. Drosha is an RNase III enzyme that is the catalytic subunit of a large complex that cleaves pri-miRNAs with distinct structures into pre-miRNAs. Here, we show that both the p68 and p72 DEAD-box RNA helicase subunits in the mouse Drosha complex are indispensable for survival in mice, and both are required for primary miRNA and rRNA processing. Gene disruption of either p68 or p72 in mice resulted in early lethality, and in both p68(-/-) and p72(-/-) embryos, expression levels of a set of, but not all, miRNAs and 5.8S rRNA were significantly lowered. In p72(-/-) MEF cells, expression of p72, but not a mutant lacking ATPase activity, restored the impaired expression of miRNAs and 5.8S rRNA. Furthermore, we purified the large complex of mouse Drosha and showed it could generate pre-miRNA and 5.8S rRNA in vitro. Thus, we suggest that DEAD-box RNA helicase subunits are required for recognition of a subset of primary miRNAs in mDrosha-mediated processing.