Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: EC:2.7.7.6 (RNA polymerase)
34,946 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The relative stiffness of naked DNA is evident from measured values of longitudinal persistence length (approximately 150 bp) and torsional persistence length (approximately 180 bp). These parameters predict that certain arrangements of eukaryotic transcription activator proteins in gene promoters should be much more effective than others in fostering protein-protein interactions with the basal RNA polymerase II transcription apparatus. Thus, if such interactions require some kind of DNA looping, DNA loop energies should depend sensitively on helical phasing of protein binding sites, loop size, and intrinsic DNA curvature within the loop. Using families of artificial transcription templates where these parameters were varied, we were surprised to find that the degree of transcription activation by arrays of Gal4-VP1 transcription activators in HeLa cell nuclear extract was sensitive only to the linear distance separating a basal promoter from an array of bound activators on DNA templates. We now examine the hypothesis that this unexpected result is due to factors in the extract that act to enhance apparent DNA flexibility. We demonstrate that HeLa cell nuclear extract is rich in a heat-resistant activity that dramatically enhances apparent DNA longitudinal and torsional flexibility. Recombinant mammalian high-mobility group 2 (HMG-2) protein can substitute for this activity. We propose that the abundance of HMG proteins in eukaryotic nuclei provides an environment in which DNA is made sufficiently flexible to remove many constraints on protein binding site arrangements that would otherwise limit efficient transcription activation to certain promoter geometries.
...
PMID:HMG proteins and DNA flexibility in transcription activation. 1153 47

The Escherichia coli rapA gene encodes the RNA polymerase (RNAP)-associated protein RapA, which is a bacterial member of the SWI/SNF helicase-like protein family. We have studied the rapA promoter and its regulation in vivo and determined the interaction between RNAP and the promoter in vitro. We have found that the expression of rapA is growth phase dependent, peaking at the early log phase. The growth phase control of rapA is determined at least by one particular feature of the promoter: it uses CTP as the transcription-initiating nucleotide instead of a purine, which is used for most E. coli promoters. We also found that the rapA promoter is subject to growth rate regulation in vivo and that it forms intrinsic unstable initiation complexes with RNAP in vitro. Furthermore, we have shown that a GC-rich or discriminator sequence between the -10 and +1 positions of the rapA promoter is responsible for its growth rate control and the instability of its initiation complexes with RNAP.
...
PMID:Growth phase and growth rate regulation of the rapA gene, encoding the RNA polymerase-associated protein RapA in Escherichia coli. 1156 13

In the deoP2 promoter of Escherichia coli, a transcription activator, cAMP-CRP, binds at two sites, centered at -41.5 and -93.5 from the start site of transcription, while a repressor, CytR, binds to a space between the two cAMP-CRP complexes. The mechanisms for the cAMP-CRP-mediated transcription activation and CytR-mediated transcription repression were investigated in vitro using purified components. We classified the deoP2 promoter as a class II cAMP-CRP-dependent promoter, primarily by the action of cAMP-CRP at the downstream site. Interestingly, we also found that deoP2 carries an "UP-element" immediately upstream of the downstream cAMP-CRP site. The UP-element overlaps with the DNA site for CytR. However, it was observed that CytR functions with the RNA polymerase devoid of the C-terminal domain of the alpha-subunit as well as with intact RNA polymerase. The mechanism of repression by CytR proposed in this study is that the cAMP-CRP bound at -41.5 undergoes an allosteric change upon direct interaction with CytR such that it no longer maintains a productive interaction with the N-terminal domain of alpha, but instead acts as a repressor to interfere with RNA polymerase acting on deoP2.
...
PMID:Repression of deoP2 in Escherichia coli by CytR: conversion of a transcription activator into a repressor. 1157 71

Infection of HeLa cells with poliovirus leads to rapid shut-off of host cell transcription by RNA polymerase II. Previous results have suggested that both the basal transcription factor TBP (TATA-binding protein) and transcription activator proteins such as CREB (cyclic AMP-responsive element-binding protein) and Oct-1 (the octamer-binding factor) are cleaved by the viral-encoded protease, 3C(Pro). Here we demonstrate that the transcriptional activator (and tumor suppressor) p53 is degraded by the viral protease 3C both in vivo and in vitro. Unlike other transcription factors that are directly cleaved by 3C(pro), degradation of p53 requires a HeLa cell activity in addition to 3C(Pro). The degradation of p53 by 3C(Pro) does not appear to involve the ubiquitin pathway of protein degradation. Vaccinia virus infection of HeLa cells leads to inactivation of the cellular activity required for 3C(Pro)-mediated degradation of p53. The vaccinia-encoded protein (CrmA) is known to inhibit caspase I (ICE protease) that converts inactive IL-1beta to an active secreted form. Incubation of HeLa cells with caspase I inhibitor Z-VAD-fmk does not interfere with 3C(Pro)-mediated degradation of p53. The cellular activity present in extracts of HeLa cells can be fractionated through phosphocellulose. A partially purified fraction that elutes at 0.6 M KCl from phosphocellulose contains the activity that degrades p53 in a 3C(Pro)-dependent manner. These results suggest that both poliovirus-encoded protease 3C(Pro) and a cellular activity are required for the degradation of p53 observed in cells infected with poliovirus.
...
PMID:Poliovirus 3C protease-mediated degradation of transcriptional activator p53 requires a cellular activity. 1187 95

The PspA protein, a negative regulator of the Escherichia coli phage shock psp operon, is produced when virulence factors are exported through secretins in many Gram-negative pathogenic bacteria and its homologue in plants, VIPP1, plays a critical role in thylakoid biogenesis, essential for photosynthesis. Activation of transcription by the enhancer-dependent bacterial sigma(54) containing RNA polymerase occurs through ATP hydrolysis-driven protein conformational changes enabled by activator proteins that belong to the large AAA(+) mechanochemical protein family. We show that PspA directly and specifically acts upon and binds to the AAA(+) domain of the PspF transcription activator. Interactions involving PspF and nucleotide are changed by the action of PspA. These changes and the complexes that form between PspF and PspA can explain how PspA exerts its negative effects upon transcription activated by PspF, and are of significance when considering how activities of other AAA(+) proteins might be controlled.
...
PMID:Mechanism of action of the Escherichia coli phage shock protein PspA in repression of the AAA family transcription factor PspF. 1207 32

The G1 cell cycle arrest imposed by Kluyveromyces lactis zymocin on Saccharomyces cerevisiae requires a functional RNA polymerase II (pol II) TOT/Elongator complex. In a study of zymocin's mode of action, genetic scenarios known to impair transcription or affect the pol II machinery itself were found to elicit hypersensitivity to zymocin. Thus, mutations in components of SAGA, SWI/SNF, Mediator and Ccr4-Not, complexes involved in transcriptionally relevant functions such as nucleosome modification, chromatin remodelling and formation of the preinitiation complex, make yeast cells hypersensitive to the lethal effects of zymocin. The defects at the level of transcriptional elongation displayed by rtf1Delta, ctk1, fcp1 and rpb2 mutants also result in zymocin hypersensitivity. Intriguingly, inactivation of histone deacetylase (HDAC) activity, which is expected to reduce the demand for the histone acetyltransferase (HAT) function of TOT/Elongator, also reduces sensitivity to zymocin. Thus, zymocin interferes with pol II-dependent transcription, and this effect requires the HAT function of TOT, presumably while the Elongator complex is associated with pol II.
...
PMID:Defects in yeast RNA polymerase II transcription elicit hypersensitivity to G1 arrest induced by Kluyveromyces lactis zymocin. 1224 98

Drosophila brahma (brm) encodes the ATPase subunit of a 2 MDa complex that is related to yeast SWI/SNF and other chromatin-remodeling complexes. BRM was identified as a transcriptional activator of Hox genes required for the specification of body segment identities. To clarify the role of the BRM complex in the transcription of other genes, we examined its distribution on larval salivary gland polytene chromosomes. The BRM complex is associated with nearly all transcriptionally active chromatin in a pattern that is generally non-overlapping with that of Polycomb, a repressor of Hox gene transcription. Reduction of BRM function dramatically reduces the association of RNA polymerase II with salivary gland chromosomes. A few genes, such as induced heat shock loci, are not associated with the BRM complex; transcription of these genes is not compromised by loss of BRM function. The distribution of the BRM complex thus correlates with a dependence on BRM for gene activity. These data suggest that the chromatin remodeling activity of the BRM complex plays a general role in facilitating transcription by RNA polymerase II.
...
PMID:The Drosophila BRM complex facilitates global transcription by RNA polymerase II. 1235 40

A ribosomal DNA (rDNA) binding activity was previously characterized in fission yeast that recognized the upstream ribosomal RNA (rRNA) gene promoter in a sequence specific manner and which stimulated rRNA synthesis. It was found to share characteristics with Saccharomyces cerevisiae's Upstream Activating Factor (UAF), an RNA polymerase I (pol I) specific transcription stimulatory factor. Putative fission yeast homologs of the S.cerevisiae UAF subunits, Rrn5p and Rrn10p, were identified. The Schizosaccharomyces pombe rDNA binding activity/transcriptional stimulatory activity was found to co-fractionate with both SpRrn5h and SpRrn10h. Analysis of polypeptides interacting with SpRrn10h uncovered a 27 kDa polypeptide (Spp27) homologous to a SWI/SNF component (now known to be homologous to Uaf30p). The contributions of the S.pombe and S.cerevisiae upstream rDNA promoter domains were assessed in cross-species transcriptional assays. Furthermore, comparative genomic analysis revealed putative Rrn5p, Rrn10p, Rrn9p and p27 homologs in multiple non-vertebrates. The S.pombe rDNA binding activity is proposed to be an RNA pol I specific SWI/SNF type factor.
...
PMID:Characterization of the fission yeast ribosomal DNA binding factor: components share homology with Upstream Activating Factor and with SWI/SNF subunits. 1249 Jul 2

Gene activation in eukaryotes requires chromatin remodeling, in part via histone modifications. To study the events at the promoter of a mitogen-inducible gene, we examined the induction of expression of the collagenase gene. It has been established that the collagenase gene can be activated by c-Jun and c-Fos and that the transcriptional coactivator p300 is involved in the activation. As expected, we found histone acetyltransferase activity at the collagenase promoter during activation. Interestingly, we also found histone methyltransferase and kinase activity. Strikingly, the first modification observed is methylation of histone H3 lysine 4, which correlates with the binding of the SET9 methyltransferase and the assembly of a complex consisting of c-Jun, c-Fos, TATA binding protein, and RNA polymerase II. The assembly of the preinitiation complex also shows an ordered binding of the acetyltransferase p300, the RSK2 kinase, and the SWI/SNF component Brg-1. Our results suggest that collagenase gene activation involves a dynamic recruitment of different factors and that in addition to acetylation, histone H3 lysine 4 di- and trimethylation and histone H3 serine 10 phosphorylation are important steps in the activation of this gene.
...
PMID:Cascade of distinct histone modifications during collagenase gene activation. 1258 98

Gene expression requires the recruitment of chromatin remodeling activities and general transcription factors (GTFs) to promoters. Whereas the role of activators in recruiting chromatin remodeling activities has been clearly demonstrated, the contributions of the transcription machinery have not been firmly established. Here we demonstrate that the remodeling of the RNR3 promoter requires a number of GTFs, mediator and RNA polymerase II. We also show that remodeling is dependent upon the SWI/SNF complex, and that TFIID and RNA polymerase II are required for its recruitment to the promoter. In contrast, Gcn5p-dependent histone acetylation occurs independently of TFIID and RNA polymerase II function, and we provide evidence that acetylation increases the extent of nucleosome remodeling, but is not required for SWI/SNF recruitment. Thus, the general transcription machinery can contribute to nucleosome remodeling by mediating the association of SWI/SNF with promoters, thereby revealing a novel pathway for the recruitment of chromatin remodeling activities.
...
PMID:SWI/SNF-dependent chromatin remodeling of RNR3 requires TAF(II)s and the general transcription machinery. 1260 Sep 43


<< Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>