TY - JOUR
T1 - Alterations in the GAL4 DNA-binding domain can affect transcriptional activation independent of DNA binding
AU - Corton, J. Christopher
AU - Moreno, Evelyn
AU - Johnston, Stephen Albert
PY - 1998/5/29
Y1 - 1998/5/29
N2 - The GAL4 protein belongs to a large class of fungal transcriptional activator proteins encoding within their DNA-binding domains (DBD) six cysteines that coordinate two atoms of zinc (the Zn2Cys6 domain). In an effort to characterize the interactions between the Zn2Cys6 class transcriptional activator proteins and their DNA- binding sites, we have replaced in the full-length GAL4 protein small regions of the ZneCys6 domain with the analogous regions of another Zn2Cys6 protein called PPR1 an activator of pyrimidine biosynthetic genes. Alterations between the first and third cysteines abolished binding to GAL4 (upstream activation sequence of GAL (UAS(G))) or PPR1 (upstream acitvation sequence of UAS) DNA-binding sites and severely reduced transcriptional activation in yeast. In contrast, alterations be- tween the third and fourth cysteines had only minor effects on binding to UAS(G) but led to substantial decreases in activation in both yeast and a mammalian cell line. In the crystal structure of the GAL4 DBD- UAS(G) complex (Marmorstein, R., Carey, M., Ptashne, M., and Harrison, S.C. (1992) Nature 356, 408-414), this region is facing away from the DNA, making it likely that there exists within the GAIA DBD an accessible domain important in activation.
AB - The GAL4 protein belongs to a large class of fungal transcriptional activator proteins encoding within their DNA-binding domains (DBD) six cysteines that coordinate two atoms of zinc (the Zn2Cys6 domain). In an effort to characterize the interactions between the Zn2Cys6 class transcriptional activator proteins and their DNA- binding sites, we have replaced in the full-length GAL4 protein small regions of the ZneCys6 domain with the analogous regions of another Zn2Cys6 protein called PPR1 an activator of pyrimidine biosynthetic genes. Alterations between the first and third cysteines abolished binding to GAL4 (upstream activation sequence of GAL (UAS(G))) or PPR1 (upstream acitvation sequence of UAS) DNA-binding sites and severely reduced transcriptional activation in yeast. In contrast, alterations be- tween the third and fourth cysteines had only minor effects on binding to UAS(G) but led to substantial decreases in activation in both yeast and a mammalian cell line. In the crystal structure of the GAL4 DBD- UAS(G) complex (Marmorstein, R., Carey, M., Ptashne, M., and Harrison, S.C. (1992) Nature 356, 408-414), this region is facing away from the DNA, making it likely that there exists within the GAIA DBD an accessible domain important in activation.
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U2 - 10.1074/jbc.273.22.13776
DO - 10.1074/jbc.273.22.13776
M3 - Article
C2 - 9593720
AN - SCOPUS:0032577603
SN - 0021-9258
VL - 273
SP - 13776
EP - 13780
JO - Journal of Biological Chemistry
JF - Journal of Biological Chemistry
IS - 22
ER -