INITIAL SOLUTION X-RAY SCATTERING STUDIES ON RNA POLYMERASE II-TBP-TFIIB-TFIIF-P

点击翻译按钮获取中文摘要

This subproject is one of many research subprojects utilizing the resources provided by a Center grant funded by NIH/NCRR. The subproject and investigator (PI) may have received primary funding from another NIH source, and thus could be represented in other CRISP entries. The institution listed is for the Center, which is not necessarily the institution for the investigator. Transcription is the first step and the key control point in the pathway of gene expression. The central enzyme in transcription for gene expression in eukaryotic cells is RNA polymerase II (pol II), which requires a number of accessory factors, referred to as general transcription factors (TF) for recognizing a promoter and specifically initiating transcription. Pol II serves as a platform for the assembly of transcriptional initiation and elongation complexes, through its interactions with the general transcription factors. The near atomic- resolution structure of the general transcription factor TFIIB co- crystallized with pol II at near atomic-resolution has given unexpected insight into the mechanism of the transcription initiation process. We have also studied the transcriptional initiation complexes formed pol II with TBP, TFIIB, TFIIF, and promoter DNA. Combining the structural information as well as biochemical evidence we propose a model for what the basal transcription initiation complex may look like, however we have so far no direct structural evidence to confirm this model.