Drosophila Mediator complex is broadly utilized by diverse gene-specific transcription factors at different types of core promoters.
To decipher the mechanistic roles of Mediator proteins in regulating developmental specific gene expression and compare them to those of TATA-binding protein (TBP)-associated factors (TAFs), we isolated and analyzed a multiprotein complex containing Drosophila Mediator (dMediator) homologs. dMediator interacts with several sequence-specific transcription factors and basal transcription machinery and is critical for activated transcription in response to diverse transcriptional activators. The requirement for dMediator did not depend on a specific core promoter organization. By contrast, TAFs are preferentially utilized by promoters having a specific core element organization. Therefore, Mediator proteins are suggested to act as a pivotal coactivator that integrates promoter-specific activation signals to the basal transcription machinery.
National Creative Research Initiative Center for Genome Regulation, Samsung Biomedical Research Institute, Sungkyunkwan University School of Medicine, Suwon 440-746, Korea.
J M
JM
Park
B S
BS
Gim
J M
JM
Kim
J H
JH
Yoon
H S
HS
Kim
J G
JG
Kang
Y J
YJ
Kim
D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D004330:Drosophila / Q000235:genetics*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D019476:Insect Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D017386:Sequence Homology, Amino Acid; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000235:genetics*
D019476:Insect Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors