Abstract
THE gfa gene encodes glial fibrillary acidic protein, an intermediate filament protein expressed in glial cells. In vitro transcription analysis has shown that the human gfa promoter contains two initiation elements that can independently specify the transcription startpoint1. One of the elements is a TATA box 25 base pairs (bp) upstream from the transcription startpoint; the other is located between 10 and 50 bp downstream from the transcription initiation site. We have now shown by transfection that both elements are required for efficient transcription in cultured cells. A partially purified natural human TATA box-binding factor (TFIID) from HeLa cells gave footprints that extended from upstream of the TATA box through the downstream initiator. Deletion of the downstream initiator inhibited both TFIID binding to the TATA box and transcription in vitro. In contrast to natural human TFIID, cloned human and yeast TFIIDs expressed in bacteria gave footprints covering only the TATA box region, although hypersensitive sites were observed in the downstream region. The cloned TFIIDs also showed less dependence than natural human TFIID on the downstream initiator for both TATA box binding and in vitro transcription. These results suggest that natural human TFIID contains an additional component(s) that contribute(s) to stable TFIID binding and effective transcription by interacting with the downstream initiator.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Nakatani, Y., Brenner, M. & Freese, E. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 87, 4289–4293 (1990).
Sawadogo, M. & Roeder, R. G. Cell 43, 165–175 (1985).
Nakajima, N., Horikoshi, M. & Roeder, R. G. Molec. cell. Biol. 8, 4028–4040 (1988).
Hoffmann, A. et al. Nature 346, 387–390 (1990).
Horikoshi, M. et al. Nature 341, 299–303 (1989).
Reinberg, D., Horikoshi, M. & Roeder, R. G. J. biol. Chem. 262, 3322–3330 (1987).
Horikoshi, M. et al. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 86, 4843–4847 (1989).
Smale, S. T. & Baltimore, D. Cell 57, 103–113 (1989).
Means, A. L. & Farnham, P. J. Molec. cell Biol. 10, 653–661 (1990).
Horikoshi, M., Carey, M. F., Kakidani, H. & Roeder, R. G. Cell 54, 665–669 (1988).
Horikoshi, M., Hai, T., Lim, Y. S., Green, M. R. & Roeder, R. G. Cell 54, 1033–1042 (1988).
Brenner, M. et al. Molec. Brain Res. 7, 277–286 (1990).
Pfreundschuch, M. et al. Proc. natn. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 75, 5122–5126 (1978).
Gorman, C. M., Moffat, L. F. & Howard, B. H. Molec. cell. Biol. 2, 1044–1051 (1982).
Wigler, M., Pellicer, A., Silverstein, S. & Axel, R. Cell 14, 725–731 (1978).
Nordeen, S. K. Biotechniques 6, 454–457 (1988).
de Wet, J. R., Wood, K. V., DeLuca, M., Helinski, D. R. & Subramani, S. Molec. cell. Biol. 7, 725–737 (1987).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Nakatani, Y., Horikoshi, M., Brenner, M. et al. A downstream initiation element required for efficient TATA box binding and in vitro function of TFIID. Nature 348, 86–88 (1990). https://doi.org/10.1038/348086a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/348086a0
This article is cited by
-
Polyglutamine-containing proteins in schizophrenia: an effect of lymphoblastoid cells?
Molecular Psychiatry (2000)
-
A histone octamer-like structure within TFIID
Nature (1996)
-
Molecular cloning of Drosophila TFIID subunits
Nature (1994)
-
Functional Analysis of the Tyrosinase Gene and Brown -Locus Protein Gene Promoters
Journal of Investigative Dermatology (1993)
-
Cooperative interaction of an initiator-binding transcription initiation factor and the helix–loop–helix activator USF
Nature (1991)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.