Upstream basal promoter element important for exclusive RNA polymerase III transcription of the EBER 2 gene.
The Epstein-Barr virus-encoded small RNA (EBER) genes are transcribed by RNA polymerase III, but their transcription unit appears to contain both class II and class III promoter elements. One of these promoter element, a TATA-like box which we call the EBER TATA box, or ETAB, is located in a position typical for a class II TATA box but contains G/C residues in the normal T/A motif and a conserved thymidine doublet. Experiments using chloramphenicol acetyltransferase constructs and mutations in the TATA box of the adenovirus major late promoter showed that the ETAB promoter element does not substitute for a class II TATA box. However, when the ETAB promoter element sequence was changed to a class II TATA box consensus sequence, the EBER 2 gene was transcribed in vitro by both RNA polymerases II and III. From these results, we conclude that the ETAB promoter element is important for the exclusive transcription of the EBER 2 gene by RNA polymerase III.
Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Connecticut 06510.
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D001483:Base Sequence; D005814:Genes, Viral; D006367:HeLa Cells; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012320:RNA Polymerase III / Q000378:metabolism*; D012367:RNA, Viral / Q000235:genetics*; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D016385:TATA Box; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D009838:Oligodeoxyribonucleotides; D012367:RNA, Viral; D012320:RNA Polymerase III