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The EMBO Journal
(1997) 16, 173–181, doi:10.1093/emboj/16.1.173
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| Staf, a promiscuous activator for enhanced transcription by RNA polymerases II and III |
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Myriam Schaub, Evelyne Myslinski, Catherine Schuster, Alain Krol and Philippe Carbon
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UPR 9002 du CNRS 'Structure des Macromole´cules Biologiques et Me´canismes de Reconnaissance', IBMC, 15 rue Rene´ Descartes, 67084 Strasbourg Cedex, France
Received 19 July 1996; Revised 23 September 1996.
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| Abstract |
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| Staf is a zinc finger protein that we recently identified as the transcriptional activator of the RNA polymerase III-transcribed selenocysteine tRNA gene. In this work we demonstrate that enhanced transcription of the majority of vertebrate snRNA and snRNA-type genes, transcribed by RNA polymerases II and III, also requires Staf. DNA binding assays and microinjection of mutant genes into Xenopus oocytes showed the presence of Staf-responsive elements in the genes for human U4C, U6, Y4 and 7SK, Xenopus U1b1, U2, U5 and MRP and mouse U6 RNAs. Using recombinant Staf, we established that it mediates the activating properties of Staf-responsive elements on RNA polymerase II and III snRNA promoters in vivo. Lastly a 19 bp consensus sequence for the Staf binding site, YY(A/T)CCC(A/G)N(A/C)AT(G/C)C(A/C)YYRCR, was derived by binding site selection. It enabled us to identify 23 other snRNA and snRNA-type genes carrying potential Staf binding sites. Altogether, our results emphasize the prime importance of Staf as a novel activator for enhanced transcription of snRNA and snRNA-type genes. |
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| Keywords: RNA polymerase II, RNA polymerase III, snRNA genes, transcriptional activator, zinc finger |
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