Skip to main content
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
. 1985 Aug;82(16):5328–5331. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.16.5328

Actinomycin and DNA transcription.

H M Sobell
PMCID: PMC390561  PMID: 2410919

Abstract

Recent advances in understanding how actinomycin binds to DNA have suggested its mechanism of action. Actinomycin binds to a premelted DNA conformation present within the transcriptional complex. This immobilizes the complex, interfering with the elongation of growing RNA chains. The model has a number of implications for understanding RNA synthesis.

Full text

PDF
5328

Images in this article

Selected References

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

  1. Banerjee A., Sobell H. M. Presence of nonlinear excitations in DNA structure and their relationship to DNA premelting and to drug intercalation. J Biomol Struct Dyn. 1983 Oct;1(1):253–262. doi: 10.1080/07391102.1983.10507438. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Brahms J. G., Dargouge O., Brahms S., Ohara Y., Vagner V. Activation and inhibition of transcription by supercoiling. J Mol Biol. 1985 Feb 20;181(4):455–465. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(85)90419-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Cartwright I. L., Elgin S. C. Analysis of chromatin structure and DNA sequence organization: use of the 1,10-phenanthroline-cuprous complex. Nucleic Acids Res. 1982 Oct 11;10(19):5835–5852. doi: 10.1093/nar/10.19.5835. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Chamberlin M. J. The selectivity of transcription. Annu Rev Biochem. 1974;43(0):721–775. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.43.070174.003445. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Crothers D. M. Calculation of binding isotherms for heterogenous polymers. Biopolymers. 1968 Apr;6(4):575–584. doi: 10.1002/bip.1968.360060411. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Darlix J. L., Fromageot P. Discontinuous in vitro transcription of DNA. Biochimie. 1972;54(1):47–54. doi: 10.1016/s0300-9084(72)80037-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. GOLDBERG I. H., RABINOWITZ M. Actionmycin D inhibition of deoxyribonucleic acid-dependent synthesis of ribonucleic acid. Science. 1962 Apr 27;136(3513):315–316. doi: 10.1126/science.136.3513.315. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. GOLDBERG I. H., RABINOWITZ M., REICH E. Basis of actinomycin action. I. DNA binding and inhibition of RNA-polymerase synthetic reactions by actinomycin. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1962 Dec 15;48:2094–2101. doi: 10.1073/pnas.48.12.2094. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Glikin G. C., Gargiulo G., Rena-Descalzi L., Worcel A. Escherichia coli single-strand binding protein stabilizes specific denatured sites in superhelical DNA. Nature. 1983 Jun 30;303(5920):770–774. doi: 10.1038/303770a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Jain S. C., Sobell H. M. Stereochemistry of actinomycin binding to DNA. I. Refinement and further structural details of the actinomycin-deoxyguanosine crystalline complex. J Mol Biol. 1972 Jul 14;68(1):1–20. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(72)90258-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Jessee B., Gargiulo G., Razvi F., Worcel A. Analogous cleavage of DNA by micrococcal nuclease and a 1-10-phenanthroline-cuprous complex. Nucleic Acids Res. 1982 Oct 11;10(19):5823–5834. doi: 10.1093/nar/10.19.5823. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. KIRK J. M. The mode of action of actinomycin D. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1960 Jul 29;42:167–169. doi: 10.1016/0006-3002(60)90769-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Maderious A., Chen-Kiang S. Pausing and premature termination of human RNA polymerase II during transcription of adenovirus in vivo and in vitro. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1984 Oct;81(19):5931–5935. doi: 10.1073/pnas.81.19.5931. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Maizels N. M. The nucleotide sequence of the lactose messenger ribonucleic acid transcribed from the UV5 promoter mutant of Escherichia coli. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1973 Dec;70(12):3585–3589. doi: 10.1073/pnas.70.12.3585. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. McClure W. R., Hawley D. K., Youderian P., Susskind M. M. DNA determinants of promoter selectivity in Escherichia coli. Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol. 1983;47(Pt 1):477–481. doi: 10.1101/sqb.1983.047.01.057. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Miller O. L., Jr, Hamkalo B. A. Visualization of RNA synthesis on chromosomes. Int Rev Cytol. 1972;33:1–25. doi: 10.1016/s0074-7696(08)61446-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Reich E., Goldberg I. H. Actinomycin and nucleic acid function. Prog Nucleic Acid Res Mol Biol. 1964;3:183–234. doi: 10.1016/s0079-6603(08)60742-4. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Roberts J. W. Transcription termination and late control in phage lambda. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1975 Sep;72(9):3300–3304. doi: 10.1073/pnas.72.9.3300. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Ryoji M., Worcel A. Chromatin assembly in Xenopus oocytes: in vivo studies. Cell. 1984 May;37(1):21–32. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(84)90297-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Sentenac A., Simon E. J., Fromageot P. Initiation of chains by RNA polymerase and the effects of inhibitors studied by a direct filtration technique. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1968 Jul 23;161(2):299–308. doi: 10.1016/0005-2787(68)90108-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Sobell H. M. How actinomycin binds to DNA. Sci Am. 1974 Aug;231(2):82–91. doi: 10.1038/scientificamerican0874-82. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Sobell H. M., Jain S. C., Sakore T. D., Nordman C. E. Stereochemistry of actinomycin--DNA binding. Nat New Biol. 1971 Jun 16;231(24):200–205. doi: 10.1038/newbio231200a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Sobell H. M., Jain S. C. Stereochemistry of actinomycin binding to DNA. II. Detailed molecular model of actinomycin-DNA complex and its implications. J Mol Biol. 1972 Jul 14;68(1):21–34. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(72)90259-8. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Sobell H. M., Tsai C. C., Jain S. C., Gilbert S. G. Visualization of drug-nucleic acid interactions at atomic resolution. III. Unifying structural concepts in understanding drug-DNA interactions and their broader implications in understanding protein-DNA interactions. J Mol Biol. 1977 Aug 15;114(3):333–365. doi: 10.1016/0022-2836(77)90254-6. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Yanofsky C. Attenuation in the control of expression of bacterial operons. Nature. 1981 Feb 26;289(5800):751–758. doi: 10.1038/289751a0. [DOI] [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