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PMID: 7935466 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

A highly conserved domain of RNA polymerase II shares a functional element with acidic activation domains of upstream transcription factors.

Molecular and cellular biology ·Vol. 14 ·No. 11 ·1994-11-00 ·Pages 7507-16

Xiao H, Friesen JD, Lis JT

Abstract

We report here that the largest subunit of yeast RNA polymerase II contains an acidic domain that is similar to acidic activators of transcription. This domain includes the highly conserved homology box H. A hybrid protein containing this acidic domain fused to the DNA-binding domain of GAL4 is a potent activator of transcription in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Interestingly, mutations that reduce the upstream activating activity of this acidic domain also abolish the normal function of RNA polymerase II. Such functional defects can be rescued by the acidic activation domains of VP16 and GAL4 when inserted into the mutant derivatives of RNA polymerase II. We further show that this acidic domain of RNA polymerase II interacts directly with two general transcription factors, the TATA-binding protein and TFIIB, and that the acidic activation domain of VP16 can compete specifically with the acidic domain of the RNA polymerase for these interactions. We discuss the implications of this finding for the mechanisms of transcriptional activation in eucaryotes.

MeSH Terms
Amino Acid Sequence Base Sequence Conserved Sequence DNA, Fungal/genetics DNA-Binding Proteins/metabolism Fungal Proteins/genetics,metabolism Models, Biological Molecular Sequence Data Protein Conformation RNA Polymerase II/chemistry,genetics,metabolism Recombinant Fusion Proteins/genetics,metabolism Saccharomyces cerevisiae/genetics,metabolism Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins Sequence Homology, Amino Acid TATA-Box Binding Protein Transcription Factor TFIIB Transcription Factors/genetics,metabolism Transcriptional Activation
Chemicals
DNA, Fungal DNA-Binding Proteins Fungal Proteins GAL4 protein, S cerevisiae Recombinant Fusion Proteins Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins TATA-Box Binding Protein Transcription Factor TFIIB Transcription Factors RNA Polymerase II
Authors & Affiliations
3 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Xiao H
Department of Genetics, Hospital for Sick Children, University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Friesen J D
Lis J T
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Article Info
Journal
Molecular and cellular biology
Abbr.
Mol Cell Biol
ISSN
0270-7306
DOI
10.1128/mcb.14.11.7507-7516.1994
Published
1994-11-00
Pages
7507-16
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
8109087
PMCID
PMC359287
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1128/mcb.14.11.7507-7516.1994 PMC Full Text View journal details
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