Structural conservation of putative functional motifs between Xenopus and human TFIIE-beta.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to M Horikoshi.
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We analysed transcription of the gene for the ribosomal protein (rp) L32 of the mouse, which is transcribed in mouse L1210 nuclear extracts in vitro. The rpL32 gene lacks a canonical TATA box. Hence it has been suggested that this gene has an alternative transcription pathway not requiring transcription factor IID (TFIID). Selective inactivation of TFIID in nuclear extract completely abolished the transcription of rpL32 in vitro. Selective inactivation was restored by the addition of cloned and purified yeast TFIID (yTFIID), indicating that this TATA-less rpL32 promoter utilizes TFIID for its transcription initiation. Furthermore, addition of an oligonucleotide-containing TATA sequence interfered with the rpL32 transcription and this was overcome by the addition of yTFIID. To further examine the stage of involvement of TFIID in rpL32 transcription, TATA oligonucleotide was added to nuclear extract before and after the formation of the transcription complex. The results reveal that TFIID associates with the pre-initiation complex and that this complex is largely resistant to added TATA oligonucleotide. Our results show, for the first time, that the TATA-less rpL32 gene utilizes TFIID for transcription initiation.
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In embryonal carcinoma (EC) cells retinoic acid (RA) strongly induces transcription from the RA receptor beta 2 (RAR beta 2) promoter through an RA response element (RARE) located in close proximity to the TATA box. Here we demonstrate that recombinant human TATA box-binding protein, hTFIID, and RAR functionally cooperate in transactivation of the RAR beta 2 promoter in EC cells in a strictly RA-dependent manner. We demonstrate that the core domain of hTFIID is sufficient to mediate RAR-dependent transcription and that Drosophila, but not yeast, TFIID can substitute for hTFIID. In COS cells ectopic expression of the E1A protein is a prerequisite for hTFIID and RAR to cooperate in transactivation. We propose a model for transcriptional regulation of the RAR beta 2 promoter in EC cells in which RAR, following activation by RA, functionally interacts with hTFIID via an E1A-like activity present in EC cells.
A Drosophila cDNA encoding a human transcription factor TFIIB homologue was isolated by PCR methods. The deduced amino acid sequence indicates 85% sequence similarity with human TFIIB, and the corresponding cDNA product expressed in Escherichia coli is interchangeable with human TFIIB for both basal and GAL4-VP16-induced transcription. Structural motifs including the direct repeats, basic repeats, and sigma sequence similarities are well conserved among Drosophila, human, and Xenopus TFIIB. However, the N-terminal region of each direct repeat is less conserved among the three species, suggesting the presence of two structural subdomains in the direct repeat. Moreover, the amino acid changes in the N-terminal subdomain produce altered positions of the conserved amino acids between the direct repeats. An overall similarity in general structural features between TFIIB and TFIID tau (the TATA-binding subunit of TFIID) was previously noted. However, in contrast to the sequence divergence reported for the N-terminal domains of TFIID tau from different species, the N-terminal sequence of TFIIB was highly conserved among the species. This suggests that TFIIB has a more rigid structure, consistent with its function as a "bridging" protein between TFIID and RNA polymerase II. Further implications of the TFIIB structure are discussed.
Point mutations in residues comprising the interrupted direct repeats of TFIID eliminated DNA binding in an electrophoretic mobility shift assay. In contrast, mutations in nonconserved residues within the direct repeat regions or in lysine residues comprising the intervening basic repeat had no effect on DNA binding. However, small spacing changes (addition or deletion of one to three residues) in the basic repeat eliminated DNA binding. These results argue for a bipartite DNA binding domain composed of direct repeats with a strict spacing and orientation. Surprisingly, some direct repeat mutations that inhibited DNA binding failed to show a corresponding inhibition of basal transcription, indicating compensating interactions of TFIID with other general factors. The implications of these and other recent results for TFIID structure, promoter recognition, and interactions with other factors are discussed.
The TATA box-binding factor TFIID plays a primary role in the process of transcription initiation by RNA polymerase II and its regulation by various gene-specific factors. Here we employ a permuted binding site/gel retardation assay with recombinant yeast and human TFIID to show that this factor induces DNA bending around the TATA element. These results are consistent with the presence of G + C-rich sequence elements flanking the consensus TATA element and led to the recently confirmed suggestion that TFIID interacts with the TATA element via the minor groove. They also raise the possibility that TFIID-induced bending might facilitate promoter interactions of other general factors in the preinitiation complex or interactions between general transcription factors and regulatory factors bound at upstream sites.
DNA-binding studies with Saccharomyces cerevisiae TFIID point mutants indicated that TFIIA interacts with the basic repeat region of TFIID and induces structural changes. The latter was shown by the ability of TFIIA to compensate for TFIID point mutants defective for DNA binding. Interaction with TFIIA also rendered TFIID binding temperature independent, thus mimicking the effect of removing the nonconserved N terminus of TFIID. In addition, N-terminal truncation of the TFIID point mutants defective for DNA binding mimicked the ability of TFIIA to restore DNA binding of those mutants. Taken together, these results suggest that TFIIA enhances TFIID binding to DNA by eliminating an otherwise inhibitory effect of the nonconserved N terminus of TFIID. Furthermore, analyses of TFIID contact points on DNA and binding studies with TATA-containing oligonucleotide probes showed that TFIIA decreases the effect of sequences flanking the adenovirus major late TATA element on TFIID binding to DNA, suggesting a possible role of TFIIA in allowing TFIID to recognize a wider variety of promoters.
TFIID binding in the minor groove of DNA at the TATA element was demonstrated by methylation interference and hydroxyl radical footprinting assays, and by binding studies with thymine analog substituted oligonucleotides. These results provide an explanation for TFIID-dependent DNA bending at the TATA element. TFIID binding shows phosphate contacts with the same residues that were found to be essential for TFIID interactions by methylation and thymine-specific modification interference assays. Based on previous studies implicating residues conserved between the direct repeats in DNA binding, as well as models of prokaryotic DNA binding proteins, these results also suggest a model in which the direct repeats of TFIID form two basic antiparallel beta ribbon arms that could contact DNA through the minor groove.
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The general transcription factor TFIIE has an essential role in eukaryotic transcription initiation together with RNA polymerase II and other general factors. Human TFIIE consists of two subunits of relative molecular mass 57,000 (TFIIE-alpha) and 34,000 (TFIIE-beta) and joins the preinitiation complex after RNA polymerase II and TFIIF. Here we report the cloning and structure of a complementary DNA encoding a functional human TFIIE-alpha. TFIIE-alpha is necessary for transcription initiation together with TFIIE-beta, and recombinant TFIIE-alpha can fully replace the natural subunit in an in vitro transcription assay. The sequence contains several interesting structural motifs (leucine repeat, zinc finger and helix-turn-helix) and sequence similarities to bacterial sigma factors that suggest direct involvement in the regulation of transcription initiation.
A general initiation factor, TFIIE, is essential for transcription initiation by RNA polymerase II in conjunction with other general factors. TFIIE is a heterotetramer containing two subunits of relative molecular mass 57,000 (TFIIE-alpha) and two of 34,000 (TFIIE-beta). TFIIE-beta is required in conjunction with TFIIE-alpha for transcription initiation. Here we report the cloning and expression of a complementary DNA encoding a functional human TFIIE-beta. Recombinant TFIIE-beta could replace the natural TFIIE-beta for transcription in conjunction with TFIIE-alpha. Amino-acid sequence comparisons reveal regions with sequence similarities to: subregion 3 of bacterial sigma factors; a region of RAP30 (the small subunit of TFIIF) with sequence similarity to a sigma-factor subregion implicated in binding to RNA polymerase; and a portion of the basic region-helix-loop-helix motif found in several enhancer-binding proteins. These potential homologies have implications for the role of TFIIE in preinitiation complex assembly and function.
Transcription factor TFIIB is a ubiquitous factor required for transcription initiation by RNA polymerase II. Previous studies have suggested that TFIIB serves as a bridge between the "TATA"-binding factor (TFIID) and RNA polymerase II during preinitiation complex assembly and, more recently, that TFIIB can be a target of acidic activators. We have purified TFIIB to homogeneity, shown that activity resides in a 33-kDa polypeptide, and obtained cDNAs encoding functional TFIIB. TFIIB contains a region with amino acid sequence similarity to a highly conserved region of prokaryotic sigma factors. This is consistent with analogous functions for these factors in promoter recognition by RNA polymerases and with similar findings for TFIID, TFIIE, and TFIIF/RAP30. Like TFIID, TFIIB contains both a large imperfect repeat that could contribute an element of symmetry to the folded protein and clusters of basic residues that could interact with acidic activator domains. These findings argue for a common origin of TFIIB, TFIID, and other general transcription factors and for the evolutionary segregation of complementary functions.
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A complementary DNA (cDNA) encoding a mouse TFIID (mIID) was isolated from mouse brain cDNA libraries. The 316 amino acid sequence deduced from cDNA sequences revealed the presence of an amino-terminal region enriched in serine, threonine, and proline (STP-cluster), an uninterrupted stretch of 13 glutamine residues (Q-run), a second STP-cluster, and a conserved carboxy-terminal region. Amino acid sequences of the first STP-cluster and the conserved carboxy-terminal region were identical to those of the human TFIID (hIID). However, the Q-run was considerably shorter than that in hIID and sequences in the second STP-cluster diverged from those of the hIID. The murine TFIID transcript is expressed as a 2 kilobase poly(A)+ RNA in the mouse brain. Southern blot analysis identified a single gene copy per haploid mouse genome.
A cellular DNA binding protein, LBP-1, sequentially interacts in a concentration-dependent manner with two sites that surround the transcriptional initiation site of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) promoter. Although sequences in the downstream site (site I) were found to enhance transcription, purified LBP-1 specifically repressed transcription in vitro by binding to the upstream site (site II), which overlaps the TATA element. The binding of human TATA binding factor (TFIID) to the promoter before LBP-1 blocked repression, suggesting that repression resulted from an inhibition of TFIID binding to the TATA element. Furthermore, mutations that eliminated binding to site II both prevented repression in vitro and increased HIV-1 transcription in stably transformed cells. These findings suggest that a cellular factor regulates HIV-1 transcription in a manner that is characteristic of bacterial repressors and that this factor could be important in HIV-1 latency.
We have examined the structure-function relationships of TFIID through in vivo complementation tests. A yeast strain was constructed which lacked the chromosomal copy of SPT15, the gene encoding TFIID, and was therefore dependent on a functional plasmid-borne wild-type copy of this gene for viability. By using the plasmid shuffle technique, the plasmid-borne wild-type TFIID gene was replaced with a family of plasmids containing a series of systematically mutated TFIID genes. These various forms of TFIID were expressed from three different promoter contexts of different strengths, and the ability of each mutant form of TFIID to complement our chromosomal TFIID null allele was assessed. We found that the first 61 amino acid residues of TFIID are totally dispensable for vegetative cell growth, since yeast strains containing this deleted form of TFIID grow at wild-type rates. Amino-terminally deleted TFIID was further shown to be able to function normally in vivo by virtue of its ability both to promote accurate transcription initiation from a large number of different genes and to interact efficiently with the Gal4 protein to activate transcription of GAL1 with essentially wild-type kinetics. Any deletion removing sequences from within the conserved carboxy-terminal region of S. cerevisiae TFIID was lethal. Further, the exact sequence of the conserved carboxy-terminal portion of the molecule is critical for function, since of several heterologous TFIID homologs tested, only the highly related Schizosaccharomyces pombe gene could complement our S. cerevisiae TFIID null mutant. Taken together, these data indicate that all important functional domains of TFIID appear to lie in its carboxy-terminal 179 amino acid residues. The significance of these findings regarding TFIID function are discussed.
The gfa gene encodes glial fibrillary acidic protein, an intermediate filament protein expressed in glial cells. In vitro transcription analysis has shown that the human gfa promoter contains two initiation elements that can independently specify the transcription startpoint. One of the elements is a TATA box 25 base pairs (bp) upstream from the transcription startpoint; the other is located between 10 and 50 bp downstream from the transcription initiation site. We have now shown by transfection that both elements are required for efficient transcription in cultured cells. A partially purified natural human TATA box-binding factor (TFIID) from HeLa cells gave footprints that extended from upstream of the TATA box through the downstream initiator. Deletion of the downstream initiator inhibited both TFIID binding to the TATA box and transcription in vitro. In contrast to natural human TFIID, clone human and yeast TFIIDs expressed in bacteria gave footprints covering only the TATA box region, although hypersensitive sites were observed in the downstream region. The cloned TFIIDs also showed less dependence than natural human TFIID on the downstream initiator for both TATA box binding and in vitro transcription. These results suggest that natural human TFIID contains an additional component(s) that contribute(s) to stable TFIID binding and effective transcription by interacting with the downstream initiator.