Initial Events in Bacterial Transcription Initiation

Ruff, Emily F.; Record, M. Thomas; Artsimovitch, Irina

doi:10.3390/biom5021035

Cited by 173 publications

(279 citation statements)

References 135 publications

(305 reference statements)

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“…Studies by Record and colleagues identified a series of λP R promoter complexes that differ in RNAP-DNA interactions, including two unstable open intermediates, I 2 and I 3 , and a very stable final open complex, RPo (19). During the isomerization from I 3 into RPo, RNAP tightens its interactions with NT DISC and the downstream duplex DNA regions, massively stabilizing the complex (2,19).…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

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RNA polymerase gate loop guides the nontemplate DNA strand in transcription complexes

NandyMazumdar

Nedialkov

Svetlov

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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Upon RNA polymerase (RNAP) binding to a promoter, the σ factor initiates DNA strand separation and captures the melted nontemplate DNA, whereas the core enzyme establishes interactions with the duplex DNA in front of the active site that stabilize initiation complexes and persist throughout elongation. Among many core RNAP elements that participate in these interactions, the β′ clamp domain plays the most prominent role. In this work, we investigate the role of the β gate loop, a conserved and essential structural element that lies across the DNA channel from the clamp, in transcription regulation. The gate loop was proposed to control DNA loading during initiation and to interact with NusG-like proteins to lock RNAP in a closed, processive state during elongation. We show that the removal of the gate loop has large effects on promoter complexes, trapping an unstable intermediate in which the RNAP contacts with the nontemplate strand discriminator region and the downstream duplex DNA are not yet fully established. We find that although RNAP lacking the gate loop displays moderate defects in pausing, transcript cleavage, and termination, it is fully responsive to the transcription elongation factor NusG. Together with the structural data, our results support a model in which the gate loop, acting in concert with initiation or elongation factors, guides the nontemplate DNA in transcription complexes, thereby modulating their regulatory properties.D uring each round of transcription, RNA polymerase (RNAP) establishes, maintains, and finally releases contacts with the DNA template and the RNA. These interactions mediate highly selective initiation, processive elongation, and precise termination and can be tuned to enable intricate regulation during the transcription cycle. RNAP resembles a crab claw in which the two pincers composed of the β′ and β subunits form an active site cleft that accommodates the nucleic acid chains (Fig. 1). The mobile β′ clamp domain that forms one of the pincers stands out as a central regulatory feature (1,2). The open clamp likely allows the loading of the promoter DNA during initiation and the release of the template and the nascent RNA during termination. The clamp is thought to close to form an active initiation complex and to remain closed during elongation but may open partially at a hairpindependent pause site (3).The clamp movements may be linked to those of the β lobe domain, which forms a part of the second pincer. The β gate loop (GL), which lies across the RNAP cleft from the tip of the clamp (Fig. 1), has been identified as an element that restricts the entry of the duplex promoter DNA into the narrow active site cleft (4), allowing only a single strand of DNA to pass through. This model posited that the DNA stands must separate outside the cleft before entry into RNAP, whereas footprinting studies demonstrated that the promoter DNA enters the active site cleft before it is opened (5). This controversy was a subject of an intense debate until a recent study revealed that the...

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…1). The mobile β′ clamp domain that forms one of the pincers stands out as a central regulatory feature (1,2). The open clamp likely allows the loading of the promoter DNA during initiation and the release of the template and the nascent RNA during termination.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

RNA polymerase gate loop guides the nontemplate DNA strand in transcription complexes

NandyMazumdar

Nedialkov

Svetlov

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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“…RNA polymerase | transcription start site selection | promoter | transcription bubble | transcription initiation T ranscription initiation consists of a number of biochemical steps leading to formation of a phosphodiester bond between a nucleoside triphosphate (NTP) bound in the RNA polymerase (RNAP) active-center initiating NTP binding site (i site) and an NTP bound in the RNAP active-center extending NTP binding site (i+1 site) (1)(2)(3). For bacterial RNAP, promoter-specific initiation requires the RNAP core enzyme (subunit composition α 2 ββ'ω) to associate with a σ factor forming the RNAP holoenzyme (subunit composition α 2 ββ'ωσ).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Interactions between RNA polymerase and the core recognition element are a determinant of transcription start site selection

Vvedenskaya

Vahedian-Movahed

Zhang

et al. 2016

Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A.

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During transcription initiation, RNA polymerase (RNAP) holoenzyme unwinds ∼13 bp of promoter DNA, forming an RNAP-promoter open complex (RPo) containing a single-stranded transcription bubble, and selects a template-strand nucleotide to serve as the transcription start site (TSS). In RPo, RNAP core enzyme makes sequence-specific protein-DNA interactions with the downstream part of the nontemplate strand of the transcription bubble ("core recognition element," CRE). Here, we investigated whether sequence-specific RNAP-CRE interactions affect TSS selection. To do this, we used two next-generation sequencing-based approaches to compare the TSS profile of WT RNAP to that of an RNAP derivative defective in sequence-specific RNAP-CRE interactions. First, using massively systematic transcript end readout, MASTER, we assessed effects of RNAP-CRE interactions on TSS selection in vitro and in vivo for a library of 4 7 (∼16,000) consensus promoters containing different TSS region sequences, and we observed that the TSS profile of the RNAP derivative defective in RNAP-CRE interactions differed from that of WT RNAP, in a manner that correlated with the presence of consensus CRE sequences in the TSS region. Second, using 5′ merodiploid nativeelongating-transcript sequencing, 5′ mNET-seq, we assessed effects of RNAP-CRE interactions at natural promoters in Escherichia coli, and we identified 39 promoters at which RNAP-CRE interactions determine TSS selection. Our findings establish RNAP-CRE interactions are a functional determinant of TSS selection. We propose that RNAP-CRE interactions modulate the position of the downstream end of the transcription bubble in RPo, and thereby modulate TSS selection, which involves transcription bubble expansion or transcription bubble contraction (scrunching or antiscrunching).RNA polymerase | transcription start site selection | promoter | transcription bubble | transcription initiation T ranscription initiation consists of a number of biochemical steps leading to formation of a phosphodiester bond between a nucleoside triphosphate (NTP) bound in the RNA polymerase (RNAP) active-center initiating NTP binding site (i site) and an NTP bound in the RNAP active-center extending NTP binding site (i+1 site) (1-3). For bacterial RNAP, promoter-specific initiation requires the RNAP core enzyme (subunit composition α 2 ββ'ω) to associate with a σ factor forming the RNAP holoenzyme (subunit composition α 2 ββ'ωσ). The σ factor contains determinants for sequence-specific protein-DNA interactions with four core promoter elements: the −35 element, the extended −10 element, the −10 element, and the discriminator element (4).During transcription initiation, RNAP holoenzyme unwinds promoter DNA to form an RNAP-promoter open complex (RPo) containing an unwound, single-stranded "transcription bubble." The process of promoter unwinding begins within the promoter −10 element and propagates downstream, enabling single-stranded nucleotides at the downstream end of the transcription bubble template strand to occup...

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“…coli RNA polymerase E. coli RNA polymerase holoenzyme σ70 is a sequencespecific DNA binding protein and specifically recognizes the −35 and −10 sequences of E. coli promoters to form a closed complex and then an open complex (Harley and Reynolds 1987;Ruff et al 2015). One critical event for RNA polymerases is to open or unwind the DNA molecule to initiate RNA synthesis de novo (Fisher 1982;Zuo and Steitz 2015).…”

Section: Bacterial Dna Replication Initiators: λ O and Dnaamentioning

confidence: 99%

Protein-induced DNA linking number change by sequence-specific DNA binding proteins and its biological effects

Leng

2016

Biophys Rev

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Sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins play essential roles in many fundamental biological events such as DNA replication, recombination, and transcription. One common feature of sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins is to introduce structural changes to their DNA recognition sites including DNA-bending and DNA linking number change (ΔLk). In this article, I review recent progress in studying protein-induced ΔLk by several sequence-specific DNAbinding proteins, such as E. coli cAMP receptor protein (CRP) and lactose repressor (LacI). It was demonstrated recently that protein-induced ΔLk is an intrinsic property for sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins and does not correlate to protein-induced other structural changes, such as DNA bending. For instance, although CRP bends its DNA recognition site by 90°, it was not able to introduce a ΔLk to it. However, LacI was able to simultaneously bend and introduce a ΔLk to its DNA binding sites. Intriguingly, LacI also constrained superhelicity within LacI-lac O1 complexes if (−) supercoiled DNA templates were provided. I also discuss how protein-induced ΔLk help sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins regulate their biological functions. For example, it was shown recently that LacI utilizes the constrained superhelicity (ΔLk) in LacI-lac O1 complexes and serves as a topological barrier to constrain free, unconstrained (−) supercoils within the 401-bp DNA loop. These constrained (−) supercoils enhance LacI's binding affinity and therefore the repression of the lac promoter. Other biological functions include how DNA replication initiators λ O and DnaA use the induced ΔLk to open/melt bacterial DNA replication origins.

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Initial Events in Bacterial Transcription Initiation

Cited by 173 publications

References 135 publications

RNA polymerase gate loop guides the nontemplate DNA strand in transcription complexes

RNA polymerase gate loop guides the nontemplate DNA strand in transcription complexes

Interactions between RNA polymerase and the core recognition element are a determinant of transcription start site selection

Protein-induced DNA linking number change by sequence-specific DNA binding proteins and its biological effects

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