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. 1996 Mar 19;93(6):2570–2575. doi: 10.1073/pnas.93.6.2570

Inhibition of the association of RNA polymerase II with the preinitiation complex by a viral transcriptional repressor.

G Lee 1, J Wu 1, P Luu 1, P Ghazal 1, O Flores 1
PMCID: PMC39838  PMID: 8637915

Abstract

Transcriptional repression is an important component of regulatory networks that govern gene expression. In this report, we have characterized the mechanisms by which the immediate early protein 2 (IE2 or IE86), a master transcriptional regulator of human cytomegalovirus, down-regulates its own expression. In vitro transcription and DNA binding experiments demonstrate that IE2 blocks specifically the association of RNA polymerase II with the preinitiation complex. Although, to our knowledge, this is the first report to describe a eukaryotic transcriptional repressor that selectively impedes RNA polymerase II recruitment, we present data that suggest that this type of repression might be widely used in the control of transcription by RNA polymerase II.

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Selected References

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