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PMID: 9499408 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S. Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S.

Conversion of the omega subunit of Escherichia coli RNA polymerase into a transcriptional activator or an activation target.

Genes & development ·Vol. 12 ·No. 5 ·1998-03-01 ·Pages 745-54

Dove SL, Hochschild A

Abstract

Evidence obtained in both eukaryotes and prokaryotes indicates that arbitrary contacts between DNA-bound proteins and components of the transcriptional machinery can activate transcription. Here we demonstrate that the Escherichia coli omega protein, which copurifies with RNA polymerase, can function as a transcriptional activator when linked covalently to a DNA-binding protein. We show further that omega can function as an activation target when this covalent linkage is replaced by a pair of interacting polypeptides fused to the DNA-binding protein and to omega, respectively. Our findings imply that the omega protein is associated with RNA polymerase holoenzyme in vivo, and provide support for the hypothesis that contact between a DNA-bound protein and any component of E. coli RNA polymerase can activate transcription.

MeSH Terms
Base Sequence Binding Sites DNA-Binding Proteins/genetics,metabolism DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases/genetics,metabolism Enzyme Activation Escherichia coli/enzymology,genetics Molecular Sequence Data Promoter Regions, Genetic Recombinant Fusion Proteins/genetics,metabolism Trans-Activators/metabolism Transcription, Genetic Transcriptional Activation
Chemicals
DNA-Binding Proteins Recombinant Fusion Proteins Trans-Activators RNA polymerase omega subunit DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases
Authors & Affiliations
2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Dove S L
Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Hochschild A
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Article Info
Journal
Genes & development
Abbr.
Genes Dev
ISSN
0890-9369
DOI
10.1101/gad.12.5.745
Published
1998-03-01
Pages
745-54
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
8711660
PMCID
PMC316573
Subset
IM
Grants
NIGMS NIH HHS · GM44025 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1101/gad.12.5.745 PMC Full Text View journal details
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