Skip to main content
PMC home page
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1988 Jun;85(12):4262–4266. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.12.4262

No strict alignment is required between a transcriptional activator binding site and the "TATA box" of a yeast gene.

D M Ruden 1, J Ma 1, M Ptashne 1
PMCID: PMC280407  PMID: 3132708

Abstract

GAL4 is a transcriptional activator of the galactose metabolism genes in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. We show that GAL4 expressed in yeast activated transcription equally well when a single GAL4 binding site was placed at any of nine positions upstream of the GAL1 (galactokinase gene) "TATA box." We chose a sufficient number of positions for the binding site to ensure that, in several of these positions, GAL4 was on the opposite side of the DNA helix with respect to the TATA box. Smaller GAL4 derivatives were similar to wild-type GAL4 in that they also activated transcription in a manner independent of the side of the DNA helix they bound with respect to the TATA box. Unlike wild-type GAL4, however, these smaller GAL4 derivatives activated transcription better when we placed a binding site progressively closer to the TATA box over a distance of 34 base pairs.

Full text

PDF
4264

Images in this article

4264Image
on p.4264
4265Image
on p.4265

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Allison L. A., Moyle M., Shales M., Ingles C. J. Extensive homology among the largest subunits of eukaryotic and prokaryotic RNA polymerases. Cell. 1985 Sep;42(2):599–610. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90117-5. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Bram R. J., Lue N. F., Kornberg R. D. A GAL family of upstream activating sequences in yeast: roles in both induction and repression of transcription. EMBO J. 1986 Mar;5(3):603–608. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1986.tb04253.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Brent R., Ptashne M. A eukaryotic transcriptional activator bearing the DNA specificity of a prokaryotic repressor. Cell. 1985 Dec;43(3 Pt 2):729–736. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90246-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Chen W., Struhl K. Yeast mRNA initiation sites are determined primarily by specific sequences, not by the distance from the TATA element. EMBO J. 1985 Dec 1;4(12):3273–3280. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1985.tb04077.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Chodosh L. A., Carthew R. W., Morgan J. G., Crabtree G. R., Sharp P. A. The adenovirus major late transcription factor activates the rat gamma-fibrinogen promoter. Science. 1987 Oct 30;238(4827):684–688. doi: 10.1126/science.3672119. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Davison B. L., Egly J. M., Mulvihill E. R., Chambon P. Formation of stable preinitiation complexes between eukaryotic class B transcription factors and promoter sequences. Nature. 1983 Feb 24;301(5902):680–686. doi: 10.1038/301680a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Douglas H. C., Hawthorne D. C. Regulation of genes controlling synthesis of the galactose pathway enzymes in yeast. Genetics. 1966 Sep;54(3):911–916. doi: 10.1093/genetics/54.3.911. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Dunn T. M., Hahn S., Ogden S., Schleif R. F. An operator at -280 base pairs that is required for repression of araBAD operon promoter: addition of DNA helical turns between the operator and promoter cyclically hinders repression. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Aug;81(16):5017–5020. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.16.5017. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Gill G., Ptashne M. Mutants of GAL4 protein altered in an activation function. Cell. 1987 Oct 9;51(1):121–126. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90016-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Giniger E., Ptashne M. Cooperative DNA binding of the yeast transcriptional activator GAL4. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1988 Jan;85(2):382–386. doi: 10.1073/pnas.85.2.382. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Giniger E., Ptashne M. Transcription in yeast activated by a putative amphipathic alpha helix linked to a DNA binding unit. Nature. 1987 Dec 17;330(6149):670–672. doi: 10.1038/330670a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Giniger E., Varnum S. M., Ptashne M. Specific DNA binding of GAL4, a positive regulatory protein of yeast. Cell. 1985 Apr;40(4):767–774. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90336-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Griffith J., Hochschild A., Ptashne M. DNA loops induced by cooperative binding of lambda repressor. Nature. 1986 Aug 21;322(6081):750–752. doi: 10.1038/322750a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Hahn S., Hendrickson W., Schleif R. Transcription of Escherichia coli ara in vitro. The cyclic AMP receptor protein requirement for PBAD induction that depends on the presence and orientation of the araO2 site. J Mol Biol. 1986 Apr 5;188(3):355–367. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(86)90160-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Hahn S., Hoar E. T., Guarente L. Each of three "TATA elements" specifies a subset of the transcription initiation sites at the CYC-1 promoter of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Dec;82(24):8562–8566. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.24.8562. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Hochschild A., Ptashne M. Cooperative binding of lambda repressors to sites separated by integral turns of the DNA helix. Cell. 1986 Mar 14;44(5):681–687. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90833-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Hope I. A., Struhl K. Functional dissection of a eukaryotic transcriptional activator protein, GCN4 of yeast. Cell. 1986 Sep 12;46(6):885–894. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90070-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Ito H., Fukuda Y., Murata K., Kimura A. Transformation of intact yeast cells treated with alkali cations. J Bacteriol. 1983 Jan;153(1):163–168. doi: 10.1128/jb.153.1.163-168.1983. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Johnston M. Genetic evidence that zinc is an essential co-factor in the DNA binding domain of GAL4 protein. Nature. 1987 Jul 23;328(6128):353–355. doi: 10.1038/328353a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Johnston S. A., Hopper J. E. Isolation of the yeast regulatory gene GAL4 and analysis of its dosage effects on the galactose/melibiose regulon. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Nov;79(22):6971–6975. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.22.6971. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Keegan L., Gill G., Ptashne M. Separation of DNA binding from the transcription-activating function of a eukaryotic regulatory protein. Science. 1986 Feb 14;231(4739):699–704. doi: 10.1126/science.3080805. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Krainer A. R., Maniatis T., Ruskin B., Green M. R. Normal and mutant human beta-globin pre-mRNAs are faithfully and efficiently spliced in vitro. Cell. 1984 Apr;36(4):993–1005. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90049-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Krämer H., Amouyal M., Nordheim A., Müller-Hill B. DNA supercoiling changes the spacing requirement of two lac operators for DNA loop formation with lac repressor. EMBO J. 1988 Feb;7(2):547–556. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1988.tb02844.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Krämer H., Niemöller M., Amouyal M., Revet B., von Wilcken-Bergmann B., Müller-Hill B. lac repressor forms loops with linear DNA carrying two suitably spaced lac operators. EMBO J. 1987 May;6(5):1481–1491. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1987.tb02390.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Laughon A., Gesteland R. F. Isolation and preliminary characterization of the GAL4 gene, a positive regulator of transcription in yeast. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1982 Nov;79(22):6827–6831. doi: 10.1073/pnas.79.22.6827. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Ma J., Ptashne M. A new class of yeast transcriptional activators. Cell. 1987 Oct 9;51(1):113–119. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90015-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Ma J., Ptashne M. Deletion analysis of GAL4 defines two transcriptional activating segments. Cell. 1987 Mar 13;48(5):847–853. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90081-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. McNeil J. B., Smith M. Transcription initiation of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae iso-1-cytochrome c gene. Multiple, independent T-A-T-A sequences. J Mol Biol. 1986 Feb 5;187(3):363–378. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(86)90439-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Nagawa F., Fink G. R. The relationship between the "TATA" sequence and transcription initiation sites at the HIS4 gene of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Dec;82(24):8557–8561. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.24.8557. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Nonet M., Sweetser D., Young R. A. Functional redundancy and structural polymorphism in the large subunit of RNA polymerase II. Cell. 1987 Sep 11;50(6):909–915. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90517-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Pabo C. O., Sauer R. T. Protein-DNA recognition. Annu Rev Biochem. 1984;53:293–321. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.53.070184.001453. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Parker C. S., Topol J. A Drosophila RNA polymerase II transcription factor binds to the regulatory site of an hsp 70 gene. Cell. 1984 May;37(1):273–283. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90323-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Parker C. S., Topol J. A Drosophila RNA polymerase II transcription factor contains a promoter-region-specific DNA-binding activity. Cell. 1984 Feb;36(2):357–369. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90229-0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Ptashne M. Gene regulation by proteins acting nearby and at a distance. Nature. 1986 Aug 21;322(6081):697–701. doi: 10.1038/322697a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Sawadogo M., Roeder R. G. Interaction of a gene-specific transcription factor with the adenovirus major late promoter upstream of the TATA box region. Cell. 1985 Nov;43(1):165–175. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90021-2. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Selleck S. B., Majors J. Photofootprinting in vivo detects transcription-dependent changes in yeast TATA boxes. Nature. 1987 Jan 8;325(7000):173–177. doi: 10.1038/325173a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Silver P. A., Keegan L. P., Ptashne M. Amino terminus of the yeast GAL4 gene product is sufficient for nuclear localization. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Oct;81(19):5951–5955. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.19.5951. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  38. Takahashi K., Vigneron M., Matthes H., Wildeman A., Zenke M., Chambon P. Requirement of stereospecific alignments for initiation from the simian virus 40 early promoter. Nature. 1986 Jan 9;319(6049):121–126. doi: 10.1038/319121a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  39. West R. W., Jr, Yocum R. R., Ptashne M. Saccharomyces cerevisiae GAL1-GAL10 divergent promoter region: location and function of the upstream activating sequence UASG. Mol Cell Biol. 1984 Nov;4(11):2467–2478. doi: 10.1128/mcb.4.11.2467. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  40. Wirth T., Staudt L., Baltimore D. An octamer oligonucleotide upstream of a TATA motif is sufficient for lymphoid-specific promoter activity. Nature. 1987 Sep 10;329(6135):174–178. doi: 10.1038/329174a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  41. Yocum R. R., Hanley S., West R., Jr, Ptashne M. Use of lacZ fusions to delimit regulatory elements of the inducible divergent GAL1-GAL10 promoter in Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mol Cell Biol. 1984 Oct;4(10):1985–1998. doi: 10.1128/mcb.4.10.1985. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES