title: cis-Acting site controlling bidirectional transcription at the growth-differentiation transition in Dictyostelium discoideum.
abstract: A pair of adjacent genes, impA and dia1, are divergently transcribed but expressed at different stages in the life cycle of Dictyostelium discoideum. The intervening 654-bp region carries cis-acting regions that are essential for transcription in both directions as well as repression of dia1 in growing cells. We have focused on a 112-bp region proximal to dia1 that is essential for bidirectional transcription. Analyses of a set of internal deletions showed that the sequence between positions 80 and 97 (TTTGAATTTTTTGAATTT) is critical and that bases outside this region are dispensable. Site-directed mutations within this critical region confirmed the importance of this sequence for transcription both to the right and to the left. However, insertions of either 6 or 24 Ts into the run of 6 Ts separating the repeated GAA sequence had little effect on the functioning of the site in either direction, suggesting that factors recognize the half-sites TTGAATT separately. Inversion of the bases between positions 80 and 97 greatly reduced expression in both directions, indicating that orientation is critical for expression of both the nearby impA gene and the distal dia1 gene, which is more than 500 bp away. Comparison of 38 mutant constructs with multiple random variations in the region indicated that transcription factors may bind to a range of related sequences and still retain function. All functional constructs directed transcription both leftward and rightward, while all nonfunctional constructs were impaired for transcription in both directions. It appears that the same transcription complex controls transcription of both impA and dia1.
authors.affiliation: Cell and Developmental Biology, Division of Biological Sciences, University of California, San Diego, 9500 Gilman Drive, La Jolla, California 92093-0368, USA.
authors.forename: Shigenori
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Hirose
authors.forename: Samuel H
authors.initials: SH
authors.lastname: Payne
authors.forename: William F
authors.initials: WF
authors.lastname: Loomis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002455:Cell Division; D004023:Dictyostelium / Q000235:genetics / Q000254:growth & development* / Q000502:physiology*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D014644:Genetic Variation; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D015800:Protozoan Proteins / Q000235:genetics; D050436:Regulatory Elements, Transcriptional / Q000502:physiology*; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: C412162:Dia1 protein, Dictyostelium; D015800:Protozoan Proteins; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases