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L Rothblum

Publications and source records attributed to L Rothblum.

10 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1999

Identification of a mammalian RNA polymerase I holoenzyme containing components of the DNA repair/replication system.

Traditional models for transcription initiation by RNA polymerase I include a stepwise assembly of basic transcription factors/regulatory proteins on the core promoter to form a preinitiation complex. In contrast, we have identified a preassembled RNA polymerase I (RPI) complex that contains all the factors necessary and sufficient to initiate transcription from the rDNA promoter in vitro. The purified RPI holoenzyme contains the RPI homolog of TFIID, SL-1 and the rDNA transcription terminator factor (TTF-1), but lacks UBF, an activator of rDNA transcription. Certain components of the DNA repair/replication system, including Ku70/80, DNA topoisomerase I and PCNA, are also associated with the RPI complex. We have found that the holo-enzyme supported specific transcription and that specific transcription was stimulated by the RPI transcription activator UBF. These results support the hypothesis that a fraction of the RPI exists as a preassembled, transcriptionally competent complex that is readily recruited to the rDNA promoter, i.e. as a holoenzyme, and provide important new insights into the mechanisms governing initiation by RPI.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

Cellular regulation of ribosomal DNA transcription:both rat and Xenopus UBF1 stimulate rDNA transcription in 3T3 fibroblasts.

A novel RNA polymerase I (RPI) driven reporter gene has been used to investigate the in vivo role of the architectural ribosomal transcription factor UBF in gene activation and species specificity. It is shown that the level of UBF overexpression in NIH3T3 cells leads to a proportionate increase in the activities of both reporter and endogenous ribosomal genes. Further, co-expression of UBF antisense RNA suppresses reporter gene expression. Thus, UBF is limiting for ribosomal transcription in vivo and represents a potential endogenous ribosomal gene regulator. In contrast to some in vitro studies, in vivo, the mammalian and Xenopus forms of UBF1 show an equal ability to activate a mouse RPI promoter. This activity is severely impaired in mutants compromised for either dimerization or DNA binding. Similarly, the natural UBF2 splice variant shows a severely impaired capacity to activate RPI transcription. The data strongly suggest that UBF predominantly regulates ribosomal transcription by binding to and activating the ribosomal genes, but does not eliminate a possible secondary role in titrating ribosomal gene repressors such as Rb. Consistent with the DNA folding ability and cellular abundance of the UBF, we suggest that the protein may regulate a structural transition between the potentially active and active chromatin states.

3T3 Cells↗
PubMed1998

Affinity purification of mammalian RNA polymerase I. Identification of an associated kinase.

Overlapping cDNA clones encoding the two largest subunits of rat RNA polymerase I, designated A194 and A127, were isolated from a Reuber hepatoma cDNA library. Analyses of the deduced amino acid sequences revealed that A194 and A127 are the homologues of yeast A190 and A135 and have homology to the beta' and beta subunits of Escherichia coli RNA polymerase I. Antibodies raised against the recombinant A194 and A127 proteins recognized single proteins of approximately 190 and 120 kDa on Western blots of total cellular proteins of mammalian origin. N1S1 cell lines expressing recombinant His-tagged A194 and FLAG-tagged A127 proteins were isolated. These proteins were incorporated into functional RNA polymerase I complexes, and active enzyme, containing FLAG-tagged A127, could be immunopurified to approximately 80% homogeneity in a single chromatographic step over an anti-FLAG affinity column. Immunoprecipitation of A194 from 32P metabolically labeled cells with anti-A194 antiserum demonstrated that this subunit is a phosphoprotein. Incubation of the FLAG affinity-purified RNA polymerase I complex with [gamma-32P]ATP resulted in autophosphorylation of the A194 subunit of RPI, indicating the presence of associated kinase(s). One of these kinases was demonstrated to be CK2, a serine/threonine protein kinase implicated in the regulation of cell growth and proliferation.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1998

The three-dimensional study of chromosomes and upstream binding factor-immunolabeled nucleolar organizer regions demonstrates their nonrandom spatial arrangement during mitosis.

The volumic rearrangement of both chromosomes and immunolabeled upstream binding factor in entire well-preserved mitotic cells was studied by confocal microscopy. By using high-quality three-dimensional visualization and tomography, it was possible to investigate interactively the volumic organization of chromosome sets and to focus on their internal characteristics. More particularly, this study demonstrates the nonrandom positioning of metaphase chromosomes bearing nucleolar organizer regions as revealed by their positive upstream binding factor immunolabeling. During the complex morphogenesis of the progeny nuclei from anaphase to late telophase, the equal partitioning of the nucleolar organizer regions is demonstrated by quantification, and their typical nonrandom central positioning within the chromosome sets is revealed.

Chromosomes↗
PubMed1995

The RNA polymerase I transcription factor UBF is the product of a primary response gene.

Transcription of the ribosomal RNA genes by RNA polymerase I is tightly coordinated with the rate of cell growth. The RNA polymerase I transcription factor, UBF, activates transcription by binding to elements within the promoter and enhancer elements within the intergenic spacer but is not required for basal transcription. To assess the role of UBF in modulating ribosomal DNA transcription, we studied its expression in NIH3T6 fibroblasts when transcription was repressed in response to serum starvation and stimulated following refeeding. Our results demonstrate a correlation between the amounts of UBF protein and the rates of ribosomal DNA transcription in quiescent and serum-stimulated cells. Nuclear run-on assays and Northern blot analyses demonstrated that the UBF gene was a primary response gene, exhibiting characteristics similar to those of c-myc and SRF. These results suggest that the regulation of transcription of the UBF gene by polymerase II represents a pathway by which cells modulate transcription by RNA polymerase I.

3T3 Cells↗
PubMed1990

rUBF, an RNA polymerase I transcription factor from rats, produces DNase I footprints identical to those produced by xUBF, its homolog from frogs.

Rat cells contain a DNA-binding polymerase I transcription factor, rUBF, with properties similar to UBF homologs that have been purified from both human (hUBF) and frog (xUBF) cells. In this note we report the affinity purification of rUBF to apparent homogeneity and show that UBFs from both rat and frog have identical footprinting characteristics on templates from either species. Furthermore, xUBF was able to stimulate transcription from rat RNA polymerase I promoters in a partially fractionated rat extract that was UBF dependent. These results strengthen the conclusion that all vertebrate cells contain a UBF homolog whose DNA-binding specificity and function have been strongly conserved.

Animals↗
PubMed1986

Some gene variants for 5 S RNA are dispersed in the rat genome.

In the course of studies on genes for small nuclear RNAs, seven lambda phage clones containing sequences homologous to 5 S RNA were plaque purified from a rat genomic library. The seven clones were found to be from six different genomic loci. When the 5 S RNA hybridized to these clones was digested by T1 RNase, only clone 5S-2 protected the RNA completely. Moreover, clone 5S-2 which has five nucleotide substitutions in the internal control region was transcribed 10 times more efficiently than a bonafide Chinese hamster 5S gene. The other clones were less efficiently transcribed than a bonafide 5S gene or not transcribed at all. The number of gene variants for 5 S RNA in the rat genome was approximately 3000. In contrast to the clustering of 5S genes and gene variants found in Xenopus, Drosophila, hamster, mouse, and human cells, the 5S gene variants in the rat genome are dispersed and most contained conserved 3'-flanking sequences. These naturally occurring 5S gene variants may be useful in binding transcription factors that affect 5S genes.

Animals↗
PubMed1985

Isolation and characterization of three rat U3 RNA pseudogenes colinear with U3 RNA.

Three different 15-kilobase rat genomic clones that contained sequences colinear with U3 RNA were isolated. These inserts hybridized only to U3 RNA in a mixture of total cellular 4-8 S RNA labeled in vivo which showed that genes or pseudogenes for most other small RNAs were absent in these U3 DNA clones. DNA sequence analysis showed that the three subcloned genes contained full-length U3-coding sequences but each had sequence variations, insertions, and/or deletions when compared to rat U3A or U3B RNA. Two of these pseudogenes contained poly(A) sequences on the 3'-end and were flanked by 6-15-nucleotide long direct repeats. None of the three clones was transcribed when injected into Xenopus oocyte nuclei. One clone was a template for a small RNA slightly larger than U3 RNA, but this transcript was not related to the U3 RNA sequences. The structural features of two of these three U3 DNAs are supportive of the hypothesis that some pseudogenes arose from RNA-mediated DNA synthesis and insertion into the genome at random sites (Van Arsdell, S. W., Denison, R.A., Bernstein, L.B., Weiner, A.M., Manser, T., and Gesteland, R.F. (1981) Cell 26, 11-20). This is the first instance where full-length, colinear, U3 RNA pseudogenes have been isolated and characterized.

Animals↗
PubMedDate not supplied

Complementary in vivo and in vitro analyses of the interactions between the cis-acting elements of the rat rDNA promoter.

Two transcription factors, rat UBF (rUBF) and rat SL-1 are required for the efficient transcription of the rat promoter in vitro. In vitro studies have established that two broadly defined cis-acting domains, the core promoter element and the upstream promoter element, cooperate to direct correct transcription by RNA polymerase I. The ability of UBF to bind to two linker-scanning mutants of the upstream promoter element, which did not respond to the addition of UBF in in vitro transcription assays, was assessed by DNase footprinting. UBF protected the same region of the promoter in the linker-scanning mutant in BSM 129/124 as it did in the wild-type, but did not yield a typical footprint over the promoter in the linker-scanning mutant BSM 106/101. Previously we reported that promoters with mutant core promoters elements, either the guanine at -16 or -7 substituted by an adenine, were inactive in vitro unless the assays were supplemented with UBF. Those results suggested that the binding of UBF upstream of the core was required for the promotion of transcription. The interactions between the core and upstream promoter elements were assessed by constructing double mutants of the promoter. In two constructs the conserved guanines at either -16 or -7 were altered in a deletion mutant (-86) that did not respond to UBF. In a third construct the guanine at -16 in BSM 129/124 was changed to an adenine. These bidomain mutant constructs did not respond to the addition of UBF in an in vitro transcription assay, confirming that the rescue of the core promoter mutants requires an intact and functional upstream promoter element.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Animals↗