PMID: 12202833

Authors:

Benoff B, Yang H, Lawson CL, Parkinson G, Liu J, Blatter E, Ebright YW, Berman HM, Ebright RH

Title:

Structural basis of transcription activation: the CAP-alpha CTD-DNA complex.

Journal:

Science. 2002 Aug 30;297(5586):1562-6.

Abstract:

The Escherichia coli catabolite activator protein (CAP) activates transcription at P(lac), P(gal), and other promoters through interactions with the RNA polymerase alpha subunit carboxyl-terminal domain (alphaCTD). We determined the crystal structure of the CAP-alphaCTD-DNA complex at a resolution of 3.1 angstroms. CAP makes direct protein-protein interactions with alphaCTD, and alphaCTD makes direct protein-DNA interactions with the DNA segment adjacent to the DNA site for CAP. There are no large-scale conformational changes in CAP and alphaCTD, and the interface between CAP and alphaCTD is small. These findings are consistent with the proposal that activation involves a simple "recruitment" mechanism.