The chronic regulation of steroiodgenesis is mediated principally by transcriptional regulation of the genes encoding the various steroidogenic enzymes. The cholesterol side-chain cleavage enzyme, P450scc, is rate limiting and hormonally regulated in a tissue-specific fashion. Human placental steroidogenesis is regulated by LH and hCG through increased intracellular cAMP, and forskolin and 8-bromo-cAMP increase the abundance of human P450scc mRNA in human JEG-3 choriocarcinoma cells. We transfected JEG-3 cells with 24 promoter/reporter constructions to examine the tissue-specific and hormonally induced transcription of the human P450scc gene in these cells. A reporter construction containing only bases -79 to +49 of the human P450scc gene was expressed in JEG-3 cells. This basal expression was increased by four elements, especially by a powerful element between -152 to -142. Adding DNA sequences to -177 suppressed the basal expression seen with the -152 construction, indicating that a repressor element lies between -177 and -152. Thus, basal expression of the human P450scc gene in JEG-3 cells is mediated by the interplay of several separate cis-acting DNA elements. Forskolin induction was conferred by sequences between -108 and -89. The mechanism for cAMP induction appears to be direct, as this induction is rapid and is not blocked by inhibiting protein synthesis with cycloheximide. Gel mobility shift experiments identified six specific DNA-protein complexes. Five of these complexes correlate closely with the basal transcription activities identified by the reporter assays. The powerful basal element, the repressor element, and the cAMP element differ from those identified by similar experiments in mouse adrenal Y1 cells, suggesting that the human P450scc gene is regulated by the tissue-specific use of different regulatory elements.