Inhibition of purified wheat germ DNA dependent RNA polymerase by pyran copolymer

1980 ◽  
Vol 58 (4) ◽  
pp. 295-298 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert Greene ◽  
Benjamin Munson

The inhibition of DNA and RNA polymerases in vitro by pyran copolymer has been shown to be related to its affinity for divalent cations. The present investigation was designed to explore further the nature of this inhibition using completely purified eukaryotic RNA polymerase II from wheat germ. Inhibition was determined as a function of divalent ion concentration and, as previously seen with less pure enzyme preparation, was greatest at low (Mn2+) and least at higher concentrations. No inhibition was observed at concentrations greater than 4.8 mM MgCl2 in the presence of 10 μg pyran/mL. The inhibition by pyran copolymer was exerted immediately unlike other polyanions, such as heparin and polynucleotides. This indicates that it stops RNA chain growth immediately as do known chelators of divalent cations. The size of pyran copolymer was shown to affect the extent of inhibition when different sized polymers were fractionated from a heterogenous single lot. However, when sized fractions were obtained from different lots we could not show a size-dependent inhibition. Although the mechanism by which pyran copolymer exerts its biological effect is unknown, it may well be related to its association with cations. The inhibition of enzymes requiring these cations appears to be a sensitive method of observing such an association.

1979 ◽  
Vol 182 (2) ◽  
pp. 257-269 ◽  
Author(s):  
G K Andrews ◽  
C S Teng

Assays of transcription in vitro, with Escherichia coli RNA polymerase or wheat-germ RNA polymerase II, were used to characterize chromatin templates isolated from the left Müllerian duct of the chick embryo during normal development, and during development in the presence of diethylstilboestrol. Control Müllerian-duct template capacity with E. coli RNA polymerase decreased from 6.42% on day 10 to 4.34% by day 15 of development. Similar results were found with wheat-germ RNA polymerase II. In the presence of rifampicin and heparin, the prokaryotic enzyme transcribed a number-average RNA chain of 670 nucleotide residues, at an average rate of 110 nucleotide residues/min, from Müllerian-duct chromatin of all developmental stages. From day 10 to day 15 there was a 44% decrease in the number of initiation sites for E. coli RNA polymerase on Müllerian-duct chromatin. A 47% decline was observed when these chromatins were transcribed with excess RNA polymerase II in the presence of rifamycin Af/013. Signs of increasing responsiveness to oestrogen developed between days 10 and 16. Embryos exposed to maximally responsive doses of diethylstilboestrol for 2 days showed increases in Müllerian-duct chromatin template capacity, RNA-chain initiation sites, wet weight, protein and RNA. The changes seen in the oviduct of the 1-week-old chick injected for 2 days with diethylstilboestrol were defined as 100% responses. By comparison, the Müllerian duct, after exposure to diethylstilboestrol from day 10 to day 12, from day 13 to day 15 or from day 16 to day 18, showed a 15%, 39% and 72% template response respectively, and a 42%, 56% and 85% initiation-site change respectively. A similar developmental trend was observed in all parameters. It is concluded that oestrogenic responsiveness in the developing Müllerian duct increases from day 10 to nearly maximal values by day 16 of development, and that this transition is paralleled by a progressive restriction of genomic activity.


1978 ◽  
Vol 170 (2) ◽  
pp. 203-210 ◽  
Author(s):  
C Mezquita ◽  
C S Teng

To probe the structural change in the genome of the differentiating germ cell of the maturing rooster testis, the chromatin from nuclei at various stages of differentiation were transcribed with prokaryotic RNA polymerase from Escherichia coli or with eukaryotic RNA polymerase II from wheat germ. The transcription was performed under conditions of blockage of RNA chain reinitiation in vitro with rifampicin or rifampicin AF/013. With the E. coli enzyme, the changes in (1) the titration curve for the enzyme-chromatin interaction, (2) the number of initiation sites, (3) the rate of elongation of RNA chains, and (4) the kinetics of the formation of stable initiation complexes revealed the unmasking of DNA in elongated spermatids and the masking of DNA in spermatozoa. In both cases the stability of the DNA duplex in the initiation region for RNA synthesis greatly increased. In contrast with the E. coli enzyme, the wheat-germ RNA polymerase II was relatively inefficient at transcribing chromatin of elongated spermatids. Such behaviour can be predicted if unmasked double-stranded DNA is present in elongated spermatids.


Plant Science ◽  
1989 ◽  
Vol 64 (1) ◽  
pp. 31-38 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laure De Mercoyrol ◽  
Claudette Job ◽  
Steven Ackerman ◽  
Dominique Job

2005 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 497-504 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benoit Coulombe ◽  
Marie-France Langelier

High resolution X-ray crystal structures of multisubunit RNA polymerases (RNAP) have contributed to our understanding of transcriptional mechanisms. They also provided a powerful guide for the design of experiments aimed at further characterizing the molecular stages of the transcription reaction. Our laboratory used tandem-affinity peptide purification in native conditions to isolate human RNAP II variants that had site-specific mutations in structural elements located strategically within the enzyme's catalytic center. Both in vitro and in vivo analyses of these mutants revealed novel features of the catalytic mechanisms involving this enzyme.Key words: RNA polymerase II, transcriptional mechanisms, mutational analysis, mRNA synthesis.


1982 ◽  
Vol 257 (10) ◽  
pp. 5779-5788 ◽  
Author(s):  
G A Kassavetis ◽  
E T Butler ◽  
D Roulland ◽  
M J Chamberlin

2004 ◽  
Vol 24 (7) ◽  
pp. 2932-2943 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hailing Cheng ◽  
Xiaoyuan He ◽  
Claire Moore

ABSTRACT Swd2, an essential WD repeat protein in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is a component of two very different complexes: the cleavage and polyadenylation factor CPF and the Set1 methylase, which modifies lysine 4 of histone H3 (H3-K4). It was not known if Swd2 is important for the function of either of these entities. We show here that, in extract from cells depleted of Swd2, cleavage and polyadenylation of the mRNA precursor in vitro are completely normal. However, temperature-sensitive mutations or depletion of Swd2 causes termination defects in some genes transcribed by RNA polymerase II. Overexpression of Ref2, a protein previously implicated in snoRNA 3′ end formation and Swd2 recruitment to CPF, can rescue the growth and termination defects, indicating a functional interaction between the two proteins. Some swd2 mutations also significantly decrease global H3-K4 methylation and cause other phenotypes associated with loss of this chromatin modification, such as loss of telomere silencing, hydroxyurea sensitivity, and alterations in repression of INO1 transcription. Even though the two Swd2-containing complexes are both localized to actively transcribed genes, the allele specificities of swd2 defects suggest that the functions of Swd2 in mediating RNA polymerase II termination and H3-K4 methylation are not tightly coupled.


2001 ◽  
Vol 276 (15) ◽  
pp. 12266-12273 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wenxiang Wei ◽  
Dorjbal Dorjsuren ◽  
Yong Lin ◽  
Weiping Qin ◽  
Takahiro Nomura ◽  
...  

The general transcription factor IIF (TFIIF) assembled in the initiation complex, and RAP30 of TFIIF, have been shown to associate with RNA polymerase II (pol II), although it remains unclear which pol II subunit is responsible for the interaction. We examined whether TFIIF interacts with RNA polymerase II subunit 5 (RPB5), the exposed domain of which binds transcriptional regulatory factors such as hepatitis B virus X protein and a novel regulatory protein, RPB5-mediating protein. The results demonstrated that RPB5 directly binds RAP30in vitrousing purified recombinant proteins andin vivoin COS1 cells transiently expressing recombinant RAP30 and RPB5. The RAP30-binding region was mapped to the central region (amino acids (aa) 47–120) of RPB5, which partly overlaps the hepatitis B virus X protein-binding region. Although the middle part (aa 101–170) and the N-terminus (aa 1–100) of RAP30 independently bound RPB5, the latter was not involved in the RPB5 binding when RAP30 was present in TFIIF complex. Scanning of the middle part of RAP30 by clustered alanine substitutions and then point alanine substitutions pinpointed two residues critical for the RPB5 binding inin vitroandin vivoassays. Wild type but not mutants Y124A and Q131A of RAP30 coexpressed with FLAG-RAP74 efficiently recovered endogenous RPB5 to the FLAG-RAP74-bound anti-FLAG M2 resin. The recovered endogenous RPB5 is assembled in pol II as demonstrated immunologically. Interestingly, coexpression of the central region of RPB5 and wild type RAP30 inhibited recovery of endogenous pol II to the FLAG-RAP74-bound M2 resin, strongly suggesting that the RAP30-binding region of RPB5 inhibited the association of TFIIF and pol II. The exposed domain of RPB5 interacts with RAP30 of TFIIF and is important for the association between pol II and TFIIF.


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