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Promoter architecture and response to a positive regulator of archaeal transcription
Author(s) -
Ouhammouch Mohamed,
Langham Geoffrey E.,
Hausner Winfried,
Simpson Anjana J.,
ElSayed Najib M.A.,
Geiduschek E. Peter
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
molecular microbiology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.857
H-Index - 247
eISSN - 1365-2958
pISSN - 0950-382X
DOI - 10.1111/j.1365-2958.2005.04563.x
Subject(s) - biology , transcription (linguistics) , general transcription factor , rna polymerase , promoter , upstream activating sequence , rna polymerase ii , microbiology and biotechnology , rna , genetics , gene , gene expression , philosophy , linguistics
Summary The archaeal transcription apparatus is chimeric: its core components (RNA polymerase and basal factors) closely resemble those of eukaryotic RNA polymerase II, but the putative archaeal transcriptional regulators are overwhelmingly of bacterial type. Particular interest attaches to how these bacterial‐type effectors, especially activators, regulate a eukaryote‐like transcription system. The hyperthermophilic archaeon Methanocaldococcus jannaschii encodes a potent transcriptional activator, Ptr2, related to the Lrp/AsnC family of bacterial regulators. Ptr2 activates rubredoxin 2 ( rb2 ) transcription through a bipartite upstream activating site (UAS), and conveys its stimulatory effects on its cognate transcription machinery through direct recruitment of the TATA binding protein (TBP). A functional dissection of the highly constrained architecture of the rb2 promoter shows that a ‘one‐site’ minimal UAS suffices for activation by Ptr2, and specifies the required placement of this site. The presence of such a simplified UAS upstream of the natural rubrerythrin ( rbr ) promoter also suffices for positive regulation by Ptr2 in vitro , and TBP recruitment remains the primary means of transcriptional activation at this promoter.