An RNA polymerase II transcription factor shares functional properties with Escherichia coli sigma 70

Science ◽  
1990 ◽  
Vol 248 (4962) ◽  
pp. 1550-1553 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. Conaway ◽  
R. Conaway
1992 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 30-37
Author(s):  
M T Killeen ◽  
J F Greenblatt

RAP30/74 is a human general transcription factor that binds to RNA polymerase II and is required for initiation of transcription in vitro regardless of whether the promoter has a recognizable TATA box (Z. F. Burton, M. Killeen, M. Sopta, L. G. Ortolan, and J. F. Greenblatt, Mol. Cell. Biol. 8:1602-1613, 1988). Part of the amino acid sequence of RAP30, the small subunit of RAP30/74, has limited homology with part of Escherichia coli sigma 70 (M. Sopta, Z. F. Burton, and J. Greenblatt, Nature (London) 341:410-414, 1989). To determine which sigmalike activities of RAP30/74 could be attributed to RAP30, we purified human RAP30 and a RAP30-glutathione-S-transferase fusion protein that had been produced in E. coli. Bacterially produced RAP30 bound to RNA polymerase II in the absence of RAP74. Both partially purified natural RAP30/74 and recombinant RAP30 prevented RNA polymerase II from binding nonspecifically to DNA. In addition, nonspecific transcription by RNA polymerase II was greatly inhibited by RAP30-glutathione-S-transferase. DNA-bound RNA polymerase II could be removed from DNA by partially purified RAP30/74 but not by bacterially expressed RAP30. Thus, the ability of RAP30/74 to recruit RNA polymerase II to a promoter-bound preinitiation complex may be an indirect consequence of its ability to suppress nonspecific binding of RNA polymerase II to DNA.


2009 ◽  
Vol 425 (2) ◽  
pp. 373-380 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sabine Wenzel ◽  
Berta M. Martins ◽  
Paul Rösch ◽  
Birgitta M. Wöhrl

The eukaryotic transcription elongation factor DSIF [DRB (5,6-dichloro-1-β-D-ribofuranosylbenzimidazole) sensitivity-inducing factor] is composed of two subunits, hSpt4 and hSpt5, which are homologous to the yeast factors Spt4 and Spt5. DSIF is involved in regulating the processivity of RNA polymerase II and plays an essential role in transcriptional activation of eukaryotes. At several eukaryotic promoters, DSIF, together with NELF (negative elongation factor), leads to promoter-proximal pausing of RNA polymerase II. In the present paper we describe the crystal structure of hSpt4 in complex with the dimerization region of hSpt5 (amino acids 176–273) at a resolution of 1.55 Å (1 Å=0.1 nm). The heterodimer shows high structural similarity to its homologue from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Furthermore, hSpt5-NGN is structurally similar to the NTD (N-terminal domain) of the bacterial transcription factor NusG. A homologue for hSpt4 has not yet been found in bacteria. However, the archaeal transcription factor RpoE” appears to be distantly related. Although a comparison of the NusG-NTD of Escherichia coli with hSpt5 revealed a similarity of the three-dimensional structures, interaction of E. coli NusG-NTD with hSpt4 could not be observed by NMR titration experiments. A conserved glutamate residue, which was shown to be crucial for dimerization in yeast, is also involved in the human heterodimer, but is substituted for a glutamine residue in Escherichia coli NusG. However, exchanging the glutamine for glutamate proved not to be sufficient to induce hSpt4 binding.


1988 ◽  
Vol 8 (8) ◽  
pp. 3175-3182
Author(s):  
S Kliewer ◽  
A Dasgupta

Inhibition of host cell RNA polymerase II-mediated transcription by poliovirus infection was studied in vitro. Whole-cell extracts prepared from poliovirus-infected HeLa cells at 3 h postinfection were shown to be deficient in a factor required for specific transcription from the adenovirus major late promoter. Three lines of evidence suggest that transcription factor TFIID is deficient in poliovirus-infected cells. First, the activity required to specifically restore transcription in poliovirus-infected cell extracts was shown to copurify with TFIID through three chromatographic steps. Second, transcription reactions reconstituted with phosphocellulose-derived chromatographic fractions revealed a fourfold decrease in the specific activity of the TFIID-containing fraction prepared from poliovirus-infected cells compared with that of the same fraction prepared from mock-infected cells. Finally, TFIID and the activity required to specifically restore transcription in virus-infected cell extracts were shown to have the same kinetics of heat inactivation. Together, these results suggest that inactivation of TFIID is an early event in the inhibition of host cell RNA polymerase II transcription by poliovirus.


PLoS Genetics ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 16 (8) ◽  
pp. e1008967
Author(s):  
Katherine I. Farley-Barnes ◽  
Engin Deniz ◽  
Maya M. Overton ◽  
Mustafa K. Khokha ◽  
Susan J. Baserga

2005 ◽  
Vol 41 (4) ◽  
pp. 425-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
P. V. Mardanov ◽  
A. N. Krasnov ◽  
M. M. Kurshakova ◽  
E. N. Nabirochkina ◽  
S. G. Georgieva

1996 ◽  
Vol 16 (5) ◽  
pp. 2350-2360 ◽  
Author(s):  
E F Michelotti ◽  
G A Michelotti ◽  
A I Aronsohn ◽  
D Levens

The CT element is a positively acting homopyrimidine tract upstream of the c-myc gene to which the well-characterized transcription factor Spl and heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) K, a less well-characterized protein associated with hnRNP complexes, have previously been shown to bind. The present work demonstrates that both of these molecules contribute to CT element-activated transcription in vitro. The pyrimidine-rich strand of the CT element both bound to hnRNP K and competitively inhibited transcription in vitro, suggesting a role for hnRNP K in activating transcription through this single-stranded sequence. Direct addition of recombinant hnRNP K to reaction mixtures programmed with templates bearing single-stranded CT elements increased specific RNA synthesis. If hnRNP K is a transcription factor, then interactions with the RNA polymerase II transcription apparatus are predicted. Affinity columns charged with recombinant hnRNP K specifically bind a component(s) necessary for transcription activation. The depleted factors were biochemically complemented by a crude TFIID phosphocellulose fraction, indicating that hnRNP K might interact with the TATA-binding protein (TBP)-TBP-associated factor complex. Coimmunoprecipitation of a complex formed in vivo between hnRNP K and epitope-tagged TBP as well as binding in vitro between recombinant proteins demonstrated a protein-protein interaction between TBP and hnRNP K. Furthermore, when the two proteins were overexpressed in vivo, transcription from a CT element-dependent reporter was synergistically activated. These data indicate that hnRNP K binds to a specific cis element, interacts with the RNA polymerase II transcription machinery, and stimulates transcription and thus has all of the properties of a transcription factor.


1995 ◽  
Vol 15 (4) ◽  
pp. 2288-2293 ◽  
Author(s):  
Z Wang ◽  
S Buratowski ◽  
J Q Svejstrup ◽  
W J Feaver ◽  
X Wu ◽  
...  

The essential TFB1 and SSL1 genes of the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae encode two subunits of the RNA polymerase II transcription factor TFIIH (factor b). Here we show that extracts of temperature-sensitive mutants carrying mutations in both genes (tfb1-101 and ssl1-1) are defective in nucleotide excision repair (NER) and RNA polymerase II transcription but are proficient for base excision repair. RNA polymerase II-dependent transcription at the CYC1 promoter was normal at permissive temperatures but defective in extracts preincubated at a restrictive temperature. In contrast, defective NER was observed at temperatures that are permissive for growth. Additionally, both mutants manifested increased sensitivity to UV radiation at permissive temperatures. The extent of this sensitivity was not increased in a tfb1-101 strain and was only slightly increased in a ssl1-1 strain at temperatures that are semipermissive for growth. Purified factor TFIIH complemented defective NER in both tfb1-101 and ssl1-1 mutant extracts. These results define TFB1 and SSL1 as bona fide NER genes and indicate that, as is the case with the yeast Rad3 and Ss12 (Rad25) proteins, Tfb1 and Ssl1 are required for both RNA polymerase II basal transcription and NER. Our results also suggest that the repair and transcription functions of Tfb1 and Ssl1 are separable.


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