Open AccessTATA elements direct bi-directional transcription by RNA polymerases II and III
Author(s) -
Wen-Ying Huang
Publication year - 1996
Publication title -
nucleic acids research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 9.008
H-Index - 537
eISSN - 1362-4954
pISSN - 0305-1048
DOI - 10.1093/nar/24.6.1158
Subject(s) - transcription factor ii d , rna polymerase ii , biology , transcription (linguistics) , upstream activating sequence , rna polymerase ii holoenzyme , tata box , general transcription factor , rna polymerase , polymerase , transcription factor ii f , microbiology and biotechnology , transcription factor ii a , promoter , rna polymerase iii , transcription factor ii b , genetics , rna , gene , gene expression , linguistics , philosophy
Eukaryotic promoter elements specify the direction and efficiency of transcription, as well as the type of RNA polymerase to be used. One such element, the TATA box, is thought to participate in determining the direction of transcription and can function within promoters for RNA polymerase II or III, depending on the sequence context. In this report the ability of four different TATA boxes to support transcription in vitro was determined. It was found that TATA elements are not directional. However, they support transcription by RNA polymerases II and III. An upstream activating sequence was found to stimulate downstream transcription by RNA polymerase II and to inhibit upstream transcription by RNA polymerases II and III. Thus a promoter necessarily consists of a TATA element and upstream sequences in order to specify the direction of transcription and the type of polymerase to be used.
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