PMID: 23921640

Authors:

Taylor NM, Baudin F, von Scheven G, Muller CW

Title:

RNA polymerase III-specific general transcription factor IIIC contains a heterodimer resembling TFIIF Rap30/Rap74.

Journal:

Nucleic Acids Res. 2013 Aug 5.

Abstract:

Transcription of tRNA-encoding genes by RNA polymerase (Pol) III requires the six-subunit general transcription factor IIIC that uses subcomplexes tauA and tauB to recognize two gene-internal promoter elements named A- and B-box. The Schizosaccharomyces pombe tauA subcomplex comprises subunits Sfc1, Sfc4 and Sfc7. The crystal structure of the Sfc1/Sfc7 heterodimer reveals similar domains and overall domain architecture to the Pol II-specific general transcription factor TFIIF Rap30/Rap74. The N-terminal Sfc1/Sfc7 dimerization module consists of a triple beta-barrel similar to the N-terminal TFIIF Rap30/Rap74 dimerization module, whereas the C-terminal Sfc1 DNA-binding domain contains a winged-helix domain most similar to the TFIIF Rap30 C-terminal winged-helix domain. Sfc1 DNA-binding domain recognizes single and double-stranded DNA by an unknown mechanism. Several features observed for A-box recognition by tauA resemble the recognition of promoters by bacterial RNA polymerase, where sigma factor unfolds double-stranded DNA and stabilizes the non-coding DNA strand in an open conformation. Such a function has also been proposed for TFIIF, suggesting that the observed structural similarity between Sfc1/Sfc7 and TFIIF Rap30/Rap74 might also reflect similar functions.