Transcript cleavage by RNA polymerase II arrested by a cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer in the DNA template.

Abstract

A current model for transcription-coupled DNA repair is that RNA polymerase, arrested at a DNA lesion, directs the repair machinery to the transcribed strand of an active gene. To help elucidate this role of RNA polymerase, we constructed DNA templates containing the major late promoter of adenovirus and a cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer (CPD) at a specific site. CPDs, the predominant DNA lesions formed by ultraviolet radiation, are good substrates for transcription-coupled repair. A CPD located on the transcribed strand of the template was a strong block to polymerase movement, whereas a CPD located on the nontranscribed strand had no effect on transcription. Furthermore, the arrested polymerase shielded the CPD from recognition by photolyase, a bacterial DNA repair protein. Transcription elongation factor SII (also called TFIIS) facilitates read-through of a variety of transcriptional pause sites by a process in which RNA polymerase II cleaves the nascent transcript before elongation resumes. We show that SII induces nascent transcript cleavage by RNA polymerase II stalled at a CPD. However, this cleavage does not remove the arrested polymerase from the site of the DNA lesion, nor does it facilitate translesional bypass by the polymerase. The arrested ternary complex is stable and competent to resume elongation, demonstrating that neither the polymerase nor the RNA product dissociates from the DNA template.

Authors and Affiliations

B A Donahue, S Yin, J S Taylor, D Reines, P C Hanawalt

Keywords

Related Articles

Quantitative assessment of protein function prediction from metagenomics shotgun sequences.

To assess the potential of protein function prediction in environmental genomics data, we analyzed shotgun sequences from four diverse and complex habitats. Using homology searches as well as customized gene neighborhood...

Prostitution and the sex discrepancy in reported number of sexual partners.

One of the most reliable and perplexing findings from surveys of sexual behavior is that men report substantially more sexual partners than women do. We use data from national sex surveys and studies of prostitutes and t...

Transcriptional regulation of hepatitis B virus by nuclear hormone receptors is a critical determinant of viral tropism.

Hepatotropism is a prominent feature of hepatitis B virus (HBV) infection. Cell lines of nonhepatic origin do not independently support HBV replication. Here, we show that the nuclear hormone receptors, hepatocyte nuclea...

Independent and combined analyses of sequences from all three genomic compartments converge on the root of flowering plant phylogeny.

Plant phylogenetic estimates are most likely to be reliable when congruent evidence is obtained independently from the mitochondrial, plastid, and nuclear genomes with all methods of analysis. Here, results are presented...

Malondialdehyde adducts in DNA arrest transcription by T7 RNA polymerase and mammalian RNA polymerase II.

Malondialdehyde, a genotoxic byproduct of lipid peroxidation, reacts with guanine in DNA to form pyrimido[1,2-alpha]purin-10(3H)one (M(1)dG), the first endogenous DNA lesion found to be a target of nucleotide excision re...

Download PDF file
  • EP ID EP84125
  • DOI -
  • Views 67
  • Downloads 0

How To Cite

B A Donahue, S Yin, J S Taylor, D Reines, P C Hanawalt (1994). Transcript cleavage by RNA polymerase II arrested by a cyclobutane pyrimidine dimer in the DNA template.. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 91(18), 8502-8506. https://europub.co.uk/articles/-A-84125