title: A conserved GA element in TATA-less RNA polymerase II promoters.
abstract: Initiation of RNA polymerase (Pol) II transcription requires assembly of the pre-initiation complex (PIC) at the promoter. In the classical view, PIC assembly starts with binding of the TATA box-binding protein (TBP) to the TATA box. However, a TATA box occurs in only 15% of promoters in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae, posing the question how most yeast promoters nucleate PIC assembly. Here we show that one third of all yeast promoters contain a novel conserved DNA element, the GA element (GAE), that generally does not co-occur with the TATA box. The distance of the GAE to the transcription start site (TSS) resembles the distance of the TATA box to the TSS. The TATA-less TMT1 core promoter contains a GAE, recruits TBP, and supports formation of a TBP-TFIIB-DNA-complex. Mutation of the promoter region surrounding the GAE abolishes transcription in vivo and in vitro. A 32-nucleotide promoter region containing the GAE can functionally substitute for the TATA box in a TATA-containing promoter. This identifies the GAE as a conserved promoter element in TATA-less promoters.
authors: Department of Biochemistry, Center for Integrated Protein Science Munich, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Munich, Germany.
authors: Martin
authors: M
authors: Seizl
authors: Holger
authors: H
authors: Hartmann
authors: Friederike
authors: F
authors: Hoeg
authors: Fabian
authors: F
authors: Kurth
authors: Dietmar E
authors: DE
authors: Martin
authors: Johannes
authors: J
authors: Söding
authors: Patrick
authors: P
authors: Cramer
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D019295:Computational Biology; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D004271:DNA, Fungal / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D017930:Genes, Reporter / Q000235:genetics; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D012319:RNA Polymerase II / Q000235:genetics*; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics*; D016385:TATA Box / Q000235:genetics; D035181:TATA-Box Binding Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D004271:DNA, Fungal; D035181:TATA-Box Binding Protein; D012319:RNA Polymerase II