The functional 5' flanking region of the human 12-lipoxygenase in epidermoid carcinoma A431 cells was characterized. By a primer extension method, the transcription initiation sites were mapped at -47 adenosine, -48 guanosine and -55 guanosine upstream of the ATG translation start codon. Transient transfection with a series of 5' and 3' deletion constructs showed that the 5' flanking region spa...

Transcriptional regulation is all about getting RNA polymerase to the right place on the gene at the right time and making sure that it is competent to conduct transcription. Traditional views of this process place most of their emphasis on the events that precede initiation of transcription. We imagine a promoter-bound transcriptional activator (or collection of activators) recruiting componen...

Cytochrome P450c17, encoded by the CYP17 gene, is a component of the 17 -hydroxylase/17,20-lyase enzyme complex essential for production of adrenal glucocorticoids and androgens as well as gonadal androgens. The expression of CYP17 in adrenocortical cells is stimulated by corticotropin (ACTH) via the signal transduction pathway involving cAMP and protein kinase A (PKA). Thus, in addition to glu...

The promoter region of the liver/bone/ kidney-type alkaline phosphatase gene was examined to define the cis-acting regulatory sequences and transcription factors responsible for its expression in hematopoietic cells. Transient transfection experiments revealed that regions deleted up to -154 base pairs upstream from the transcription initiation site had significant activities to induce bacteria...

The tumor suppressor protein p53 regulates transcriptional programs that control the response to cellular stress. We show that distinct mechanisms exist to activate p53 target genes as revealed by marked differences in affinities and damage-specific recruitment of transcription initiation components. p53 functions in a temporal manner to regulate promoter activity both before and after stress. ...

Initiation of transcription by RNA polymerase II commonly requires the cooperation of two different sets of proteins, the basal transcription machinery and sequencespecific factors that bind to promoter/enhancer elements. How do the latter transcription factors relay their activating or repressing function to the basal transcription machinery? One way would be by direct interaction of the seque...

Gene activation is often associated with high levels of histone acetylation. Enhanced acetylation levels can promote the recruitment of further chromatin modifying complexes or the basal transcription machinery. Here, we have studied MAP kinase-mediated upregulation of c-fos and uncover a role for histone acetylation in promoting the recruitment of a second transcription factor, NFI. MAP kinase...

The basal transcription factor IIE (TFIIE) is thought to be one of the last factors to be assembled into a preinitiation complex (PIC) at eukaryotic promoters after RNA polymerase II and TFIIF have been incorporated. It was shown that a primary function of TFIIE is to recruit and cooperate with TFIIH in promoter melting. Here, we show that the large subunit of TFIIE (E56) can directly stimulate...