DNA damage recognition by basal transcription factors follows different mechanisms. Using transcriptioncompetition, nitrocellulose filter binding, and DNase I footprinting assays, we show that, although the general transcription factor TFIIH is able to target any kind of lesion which can be repaired by the nucleotide excision repair pathway, TATA binding protein (TBP)-TFIID is more selective in damage recognition. Only genotoxic agents which are able to induce kinked DNA structures similar to the one for the TATA box in its TBP complex are recognized. Indeed, DNase I footprinting patterns reveal that TBP protects equally 4 nucleotides upstream and 6 nucleotides downstream from the A-T (at position ؊29 of the noncoding strand) of the adenovirus major late promoter and from the G-G of a cisplatin-induced 1,2-d(GpG) cross-link. Together, our results may partially explain differences in transcription inhibition rates following DNA damage.Many carcinogens and antitumor agents structurally modify DNA, often at specific DNA sequences, with as a consequence the disturbance of mechanisms which govern cell life. Following DNA damage, one observes cell cycle arrests in G 2 /M and G 1 phases and a decrease in the rate of transcription. Investigations aimed at elucidating how cells respond to DNA damage evidenced a transcriptionally connected subpathway of DNA repair, called nucleotide excision repair (NER), in which lesions in transcribed genes were preferentially repaired (4,28). This connection between the two mechanisms was further and definitively established when it was demonstrated that the multiprotein complex TFIIH, essential for protein-encoding gene transcription, was also fundamental for NER (for reviews, see references 16 and 36).One of the first steps of any repair process is recognition of the damage, and thus, significant studies have been devoted to identifying proteins able to bind specifically to cisplatin-or UV-induced lesions (for a review, see reference 5). In an effort to understand how TFIIH shuttles between the transcription template and the DNA lesion, we surprisingly demonstrated that TATA binding protein (TBP)-TFIID, another essential basal transcription factor which normally recognizes the TATA box sequence located 30 bp upstream from the transcription start site, also interacts with damaged DNA (41).Before trying to understand the putative role of TBP in DNA repair, we considered it worthwhile to expand our investigations examining the connection between these two essential transcription components, TFIIH and TFIID, and several damaged DNAs. Seven different drugs ( Fig. 1 and Table 1) which bind covalently to DNA were chosen. The platinum derivatives form mono-or bifunctional adducts with DNA. First, the diethylenetriaminedichloroplatinum(II) derivative (Dien) (24) was chosen for its ability to form a monofunctional adduct recognized by the NER pathway in bacteria (2). Cisplatin (CDDP), transplatin (TDDP), and dachplatin (Dach) were used for their capacity to induce monofunctional adducts which ...