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
. 1989 Apr;86(8):2652–2656. doi: 10.1073/pnas.86.8.2652

Yeast GCN4 transcriptional activator protein interacts with RNA polymerase II in vitro.

C J Brandl 1, K Struhl 1
PMCID: PMC286975  PMID: 2649888

Abstract

Regulated transcription by eukaryotic RNA polymerase II (Pol II) requires the functional interaction of multiple protein factors, some of which presumably interact directly with the polymerase. One such factor, the yeast GCN4 activator protein, binds to the upstream promoter elements of many amino acid biosynthetic genes and induces their transcription. Through the use of affinity chromatography involving GCN4- or Pol II-Sepharose columns, we show that GCN4 interacts specifically with Pol II in vitro. Purified Pol II is retained on the GCN4-Sepharose column under conditions in which the vast majority of proteins flow through. Moreover, Pol II can be selectively isolated from more complex mixtures of proteins. Conversely, GCN4 protein, synthesized in vitro or in Escherichia coli, specifically binds to the Pol II-Sepharose column under equivalent conditions. Using deletion mutants, we also show that the DNA-binding domain of GCN4 is both necessary and sufficient for this interaction. We suggest the possibility that this GCN4-Pol II interaction may be important for transcription in vivo.

Full text

PDF
2652

Images in this article

2653Image
on p.2653
2653Image
on p.2653
2654Image
on p.2654
2654Image
on p.2654

Selected References

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

  1. Allison L. A., Wong J. K., Fitzpatrick V. D., Moyle M., Ingles C. J. The C-terminal domain of the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Drosophila melanogaster, and mammals: a conserved structure with an essential function. Mol Cell Biol. 1988 Jan;8(1):321–329. doi: 10.1128/mcb.8.1.321. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Angel P., Allegretto E. A., Okino S. T., Hattori K., Boyle W. J., Hunter T., Karin M. Oncogene jun encodes a sequence-specific trans-activator similar to AP-1. Nature. 1988 Mar 10;332(6160):166–171. doi: 10.1038/332166a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Arndt K., Fink G. R. GCN4 protein, a positive transcription factor in yeast, binds general control promoters at all 5' TGACTC 3' sequences. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Nov;83(22):8516–8520. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.22.8516. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bohmann D., Bos T. J., Admon A., Nishimura T., Vogt P. K., Tjian R. Human proto-oncogene c-jun encodes a DNA binding protein with structural and functional properties of transcription factor AP-1. Science. 1987 Dec 4;238(4832):1386–1392. doi: 10.1126/science.2825349. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. 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]
  6. Bushman F. D., Ptashne M. Turning lambda Cro into a transcriptional activator. Cell. 1988 Jul 15;54(2):191–197. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90551-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Chen W., Struhl K. Yeast upstream activator protein GCN4 can stimulate transcription when its binding site replaces the TATA element. EMBO J. 1989 Jan;8(1):261–268. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1989.tb03372.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Chen W., Tabor S., Struhl K. Distinguishing between mechanisms of eukaryotic transcriptional activation with bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase. Cell. 1987 Sep 25;50(7):1047–1055. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90171-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Dahmus M. E., Kedinger C. Transcription of adenovirus-2 major late promoter inhibited by monoclonal antibody directed against RNA polymerases IIO and IIA. J Biol Chem. 1983 Feb 25;258(4):2303–2307. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Formosa T., Burke R. L., Alberts B. M. Affinity purification of bacteriophage T4 proteins essential for DNA replication and genetic recombination. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1983 May;80(9):2442–2446. doi: 10.1073/pnas.80.9.2442. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Fried M., Crothers D. M. Equilibria and kinetics of lac repressor-operator interactions by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis. Nucleic Acids Res. 1981 Dec 11;9(23):6505–6525. doi: 10.1093/nar/9.23.6505. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Garner M. M., Revzin A. A gel electrophoresis method for quantifying the binding of proteins to specific DNA regions: application to components of the Escherichia coli lactose operon regulatory system. Nucleic Acids Res. 1981 Jul 10;9(13):3047–3060. doi: 10.1093/nar/9.13.3047. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Guarente L. Regulatory proteins in yeast. Annu Rev Genet. 1987;21:425–452. doi: 10.1146/annurev.ge.21.120187.002233. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Hill D. E., Hope I. A., Macke J. P., Struhl K. Saturation mutagenesis of the yeast his3 regulatory site: requirements for transcriptional induction and for binding by GCN4 activator protein. Science. 1986 Oct 24;234(4775):451–457. doi: 10.1126/science.3532321. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Hinnebusch A. G. Evidence for translational regulation of the activator of general amino acid control in yeast. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Oct;81(20):6442–6446. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.20.6442. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Hochschild A., Irwin N., Ptashne M. Repressor structure and the mechanism of positive control. Cell. 1983 Feb;32(2):319–325. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(83)90451-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Hollenberg S. M., Giguere V., Segui P., Evans R. M. Colocalization of DNA-binding and transcriptional activation functions in the human glucocorticoid receptor. Cell. 1987 Apr 10;49(1):39–46. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90753-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Hope I. A., Mahadevan S., Struhl K. Structural and functional characterization of the short acidic transcriptional activation region of yeast GCN4 protein. Nature. 1988 Jun 16;333(6174):635–640. doi: 10.1038/333635a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. 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]
  20. Hope I. A., Struhl K. GCN4 protein, synthesized in vitro, binds HIS3 regulatory sequences: implications for general control of amino acid biosynthetic genes in yeast. Cell. 1985 Nov;43(1):177–188. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(85)90022-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Hope I. A., Struhl K. GCN4, a eukaryotic transcriptional activator protein, binds as a dimer to target DNA. EMBO J. 1987 Sep;6(9):2781–2784. doi: 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1987.tb02573.x. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Horikoshi M., Carey M. F., Kakidani H., Roeder R. G. Mechanism of action of a yeast activator: direct effect of GAL4 derivatives on mammalian TFIID-promoter interactions. Cell. 1988 Aug 26;54(5):665–669. doi: 10.1016/s0092-8674(88)80011-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Horikoshi M., Hai T., Lin Y. S., Green M. R., Roeder R. G. Transcription factor ATF interacts with the TATA factor to facilitate establishment of a preinitiation complex. Cell. 1988 Sep 23;54(7):1033–1042. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(88)90118-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Irwin N., Ptashne M. Mutants of the catabolite activator protein of Escherichia coli that are specifically deficient in the gene-activation function. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Dec;84(23):8315–8319. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.23.8315. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Kadonaga J. T., Tjian R. Affinity purification of sequence-specific DNA binding proteins. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Aug;83(16):5889–5893. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.16.5889. [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. McKnight S., Tjian R. Transcriptional selectivity of viral genes in mammalian cells. Cell. 1986 Sep 12;46(6):795–805. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90061-9. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. 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]
  29. 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]
  30. Sopta M., Carthew R. W., Greenblatt J. Isolation of three proteins that bind to mammalian RNA polymerase II. J Biol Chem. 1985 Aug 25;260(18):10353–10360. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Struhl K., Brandl C. J., Chen W., Harbury P. A., Hope I. A., Mahadevan S. Transcriptional activation by yeast GCN4, a functional homolog to the jun oncoprotein. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1988;53(Pt 2):701–709. doi: 10.1101/sqb.1988.053.01.080. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Struhl K. Constitutive and inducible Saccharomyces cerevisiae promoters: evidence for two distinct molecular mechanisms. Mol Cell Biol. 1986 Nov;6(11):3847–3853. doi: 10.1128/mcb.6.11.3847. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Struhl K. Promoters, activator proteins, and the mechanism of transcriptional initiation in yeast. Cell. 1987 May 8;49(3):295–297. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90277-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Struhl K. The DNA-binding domains of the jun oncoprotein and the yeast GCN4 transcriptional activator protein are functionally homologous. Cell. 1987 Sep 11;50(6):841–846. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(87)90511-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Struhl K. The JUN oncoprotein, a vertebrate transcription factor, activates transcription in yeast. Nature. 1988 Apr 14;332(6165):649–650. doi: 10.1038/332649a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Thireos G., Penn M. D., Greer H. 5' untranslated sequences are required for the translational control of a yeast regulatory gene. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Aug;81(16):5096–5100. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.16.5096. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Vogt P. K., Bos T. J., Doolittle R. F. Homology between the DNA-binding domain of the GCN4 regulatory protein of yeast and the carboxyl-terminal region of a protein coded for by the oncogene jun. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 May;84(10):3316–3319. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.10.3316. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  38. Zalkin H., Paluh J. L., van Cleemput M., Moye W. S., Yanofsky C. Nucleotide sequence of Saccharomyces cerevisiae genes TRP2 and TRP3 encoding bifunctional anthranilate synthase: indole-3-glycerol phosphate synthase. J Biol Chem. 1984 Mar 25;259(6):3985–3992. [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