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PMID: 8628270 Published · ppublish English Comparative Study Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Three functional classes of transcriptional activation domain.

Molecular and cellular biology ·Vol. 16 ·No. 5 ·1996-05-00 ·Pages 2044-55

Blau J, Xiao H, McCracken S, O'Hare P, Greenblatt J, Bentley D

Abstract

We have studied the abilities of different transactivation domains to stimulate the initiation and elongation (postinitiation) steps of RNA polymerase II transcription in vivo. Nuclear run-on and RNase protection analyses revealed three classes of activation domains: Sp1 and CTF stimulated initiation (type I); human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Tat fused to a DNA binding domain stimulated predominantly elongation (type IIA); and VP16, p53, and E2F1 stimulated both initiation and elongation (type IIB). A quadruple point mutation of VP16 converted it from a type IIB to a type I activator. Type I and type IIA activators synergized with one another but not with type IIB activators. This observation implies that synergy can result from the concerted action of factors stimulating two different steps in transcription: initiation and elongation. The functional differences between activators may be explained by the different contacts they make with general transcription factors. In support of this idea, we found a correlation between the abilities of activators, including Tat, to stimulate elongation and their abilities to bind TFIIH.

MeSH Terms
Base Sequence Binding Sites Cell Line Cell Nucleus/metabolism Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase/biosynthesis DNA-Binding Proteins Fungal Proteins/metabolism Gene Products, tat/metabolism HIV-1/metabolism HeLa Cells Humans Kidney Models, Genetic Molecular Sequence Data Mutagenesis, Insertional Oligodeoxyribonucleotides RNA Polymerase II/metabolism Recombinant Fusion Proteins/metabolism Ribonucleases Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins Sp1 Transcription Factor/metabolism Transcription Factors/metabolism Transcription, Genetic Transcriptional Activation tat Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus
Chemicals
DNA-Binding Proteins Fungal Proteins GAL4 protein, S cerevisiae Gene Products, tat Oligodeoxyribonucleotides Recombinant Fusion Proteins Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins Sp1 Transcription Factor Transcription Factors tat Gene Products, Human Immunodeficiency Virus Chloramphenicol O-Acetyltransferase RNA Polymerase II Ribonucleases
Authors & Affiliations
6 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Blau J
Molecular Genetics of Differentiation Laboratory, Imperial Cancer Research Fund, London, UK.
Xiao H
McCracken S
O'Hare P
Greenblatt J
Bentley D
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Article Info
Journal
Molecular and cellular biology
Abbr.
Mol Cell Biol
ISSN
0270-7306
DOI
10.1128/MCB.16.5.2044
Published
1996-05-00
Pages
2044-55
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
8109087
PMCID
PMC231191
Subset
IM
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1128/MCB.16.5.2044 PMC Full Text View journal details
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