Inhibition of RNA Polymerase II Transcription By
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Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA Vol. 90, pp. 7186-7190, August 1993 Biochemistry Inhibition of RNA polymerase II transcription by oligonucleotide- RecA protein filaments targeted to promoter sequences (human imiunodeficiency virus long terminal repeat/parvovirus/minute virus of mice) EFIM I. GOLUB*, CHARLES M. RADDING, AND DAVID C. WARD Departments of Genetics, and Molecular Biophysics and Biochemistry, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT 06510 Communicated by Donald M. Crothers, May 20, 1993 ABSTRACT In the presence of RecA protein, which plays promoter and several regulatory elements which control a major role in genetic recombination in Escherichia colt, an proviral DNA expression (15); (ii) a 600-bp EcoRI-HindIII oligodeoxyribonucleotide can find its homologous counterpart fragment ofplasmid pYT104-1 (16,17), which includes the P6 in double-stranded DNA and form triple-stranded structures. promoter of the human parvovirus B19; part of the B19 A triple-stranded structure formed by an oligonucleotide with sequence relevant to our study is shown in Fig. 1B; and (iii) a sequence overlapping essential regulatory elements of a viral a plasmid, pMB415 digested by Pst I (18), which carries the promoter, such as TATA or GC boxes, inhibited in vitro P4 promoter of minute virus of mice (MVM). Run-off tran- transcription driven by RNA polymerase II. An oligonucleotide scripts made from the HIV-1 LTR, and the P6 and P4 with eight nucleotides homologous to its target suppressed RNA parvovirus promoters were 335, 250, and 210 nucleotides polymerase H activity in HeLa cell extracts. This procedure long, respectively. offers a potential alternative to the usual mutational analysis of The ODN sequences used in this study are listed in Table transcriptional promoters. 1. ODN PBS-T342, which does not share sequence homology with any ofthe templates, served as the heterologous control. Eukaryotic transcription is regulated by complex interactions ODNs were synthesized on a model 394 DNA synthesizer ofvarious sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins with pro- (Applied Biosystems) and purified by separation in a poly- moters (1). Polypurine or polypyrimidine oligodeoxyribonu- acrylamide gel or by using NENSorbPrep cartridges (New cleotides (ODNs) can nonenzymatically form a sequence- England Nuclear). specific triple helix by hydrogen binding to polypyrimidine or Formation of Oligonucleotide Joints by RecA Protein. RecA polypurine tracts within duplex DNA (2-4). Formation of a protein was purified as described (19). ODN at 10 ,uM was triple helix in a region ofDNA that is involved in interactions mixed with 5 ,uM RecA protein in a solution containing 25 with proteins of the RNA polymerase II transcription com- mM Tris acetate (pH 7.2), 2 mM magnesium acetate, and 1 plex can prevent the binding of protein factors and thereby mM adenosine 5'-[L-thio]triphosphate. The 10-,ul mixture the inhibition of was incubated for 5 min at 37°C to allow RecA protein to coat suppress transcription (5-9). However, the ODN. Then, 2 ,ul of template DNA (490-bp Ava I-EcoRI transcription by oligopurine or oligopyrimidine sequences fragment of pEG602, 600-bp EcoRI-HindIII fragment of can be achieved only if the appropriate tracts exist in the pYT104-1, or Pst I-digested pBM415 was added (=30 ,uM) in regulatory sequences. By contrast, ODNs of arbitrary se- 30 mM magnesium acetate. After 15-20 min at 37°C, the quence, when coated by the RecA protein ofEscherichia coli mixture was used as a source of template for in vitro (10) in the presence of ATP or its nonhydrolyzable analog transcription. adenosine 5'-[y-thio]triphosphate can pair with homologous Run-Off Transcription. The transcription mixture con- duplex DNA-RecA protein and form a triple-stranded struc- tained 5 Al (=8 transcriptional units) ofHeLa nuclear extract, ture which is stable in the presence of RecA protein (11). 6 Al of transcription buffer [20 mM Hepes, pH 7.9/100 mM These nucleoprotein complexes, which include RecA protein KCl/0.2 mM EDTA/0.5 mM dithiothreitol/20% (vol/vol) and three strands of DNA, have been shown to prevent the glycerol], 1,ul ofribonucleotide mixture (10 mM ATP/10 mM original duplex DNA sequence from being methylated or CTP/10 mM UTP/0.4 mM GTP), 1 ,ul of [a-32P]GTP (3000 digested by restriction enzymes (12). Ci/mmol, 10 mCi/ml; New England Nuclear; 1 Ci = 37 GBq), Recently, we found that a triple-stranded structure formed and 0.2 Al (50 ng) of plasmid DNA used as internal standard. between ODN-RecA complexes and duplex DNA at specific The mixture was added to 12 ul of the template mixture sequences upstream or downstream of a transcriptional start prepared as described above. After 30 min of incubation at site could inhibit either initiation or elongation of transcrip- 30°C, transcription was stopped by adding 175 ,l4 of stop tion by T3 or T7 phage RNA polymerases (13). In this buffer (0.3 M Tris HCl, pH 7.4/0.3 M sodium acetate/0.5% communication, we describe experiments which show that SDS/2 mM EDTA with tRNA at 3 ,ug/ml). Reaction products specific ODN-RecA protein filaments can markedly inhibit were extracted with 200 Al of phenol/chloroform/isoamyl initiation of transcription by eukaryotic RNA polymerase II. alcohol (25:24:1, vol/vol) and precipitated with 3 volumes of 95% ethanol. Half of the RNA sample was mixed with an MATERIALS AND METHODS equal volume offormamide dye mix (98% formamide/10 mM EDTA/0.1% xylene cyanol/0.1% bromphenol blue), heated Plasmids and ODNs. Three different DNAs were used as a 5 min at 90°C, and subjected to electrophoresis in a denatur- template for transcription: (i) a 490-bp Ava I-EcoRI fragment ing 8% polyacrylamide gel. The gel was autoradiographed for (Fig. 1A) of plasmid pEG602 (14) which carries sequences 12-72 hr at -70°C with an intensifying screen. To quantitate from the long terminal repeat (LTR) of human immunodefi- in vitro transcripts, densitometric scanning was carried out ciency virus type 1 (HIV-1); the LTR contains an HIV-1 Abbreviations: HIV-1, human immunodeficiency virus type 1; LTR, The publication costs ofthis article were defrayed in part by page charge long terminal repeat; MVM, minute virus of mice; ODN, oligode- payment. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" oxyribonucleotide. in accordance with 18 U.S.C. §1734 solely to indicate this fact. *To whom reprint requests should be addressed. 7186 Downloaded by guest on October 1, 2021 Biochemistry: Golub et al. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90 (1993) 7187 A TgTA ox CC U') . Ln cli co to r- oo v enhancers '? "I GC-b... --, r+ -41 --i I16,II - .-N~~~I,'1 iS EG10730 EG10633 EGl 6050 EG 10842 B -80 -70 -60 GC-box (distal) `50 GC-box (proximal) -4 GTTAGTTTTGTAACGGTTAAA TGGGCGGACIGTAGGCGGGGAI GTTAGTTTTGTAACGGTTAAAATGGGCGGAGCG (EG11033) CGGTTAAAATGGGCGGAGCG (EG11520) C C C C C T C C C CCCCC CGGGCGGAGCG (EG11425) CCC CCC CCC CCC T T TGTTAAAATGG (EG11825) +1 -30 TATA-box -20 -10 +10 +20 CTACA TATATAT GCACGGTACTGCCGCAGCTCTTTCTTTCTGGGCTGCTTTTTCCTGGACT CTACAGTATATATAGCACGGTACTGCCGCAGCT (EG11133) CTTTCTTTCTGGGCTGCTTTTTCCTGGACT (EG11330) FIG. 1. Maps offragments of DNA that were used as a template for transcription, and position of ODNs. (A) Ava I-EcoRI fragment of HIV-1 LTR (from plasmid pEG602). (B) Part ofEcoRI-HindIII fragment ofplasmid pYT104-1 that carries promoter P6 ofhuman parvovirus B19. Arrow shows the transcriptional start site. Numbers depict nucleotide position relative to the transcriptional start site. Lowercase letters indicate ODN sequences that are not homologous to duplex DNA. by using a gel scanner (Molecular Dynamics). To estimate the was used as a template. In the presence of RecA, ODN amounts of specific transcripts, their band intensities were EG10050, whose sequence overlaps a TATA box (see Fig. 1A normalized by dividing by the intensity of the band produced and Table 1), strongly inhibited transcription (Fig. 2, compare by transcription of the internal standard. HeLa cell nuclear lanes 2 and 3). Similarly, ODN EG10633, whose sequence extract and unlabeled ribonucleotides were purchased from overlaps three GC boxes implicated in transcription from the Promega. HIV-1 promoter, also inhibited transcription in a RecA- dependent fashion, albeit to a lesser degree (compare lanes 4 RESULTS and 5). In contrast, two other ODNs, PBS-T342 and EG10730, had no effect on transcription. The former of these ODNs Inhibition of Transcription from an HIV-1 LTR Promoter. does not share any homology with the template, whereas the Fig. 2 shows results of an experiment with in vitro run-off latter overlaps HIV-1 enhancers which are not functional in transcription in which a 600-bp fragment of the HIV-1 LTR uninduced or uninfected HeLa cells (see below). ODN Table 1. ODNs used in this study No. of Name nucleotides Sequence Comment PBS-T342 42 ATTACGCCAAGCTCGAAATTAACCCTCACTAA Has no homology to any template used in AGGGAACAAA this study ("heterologous control") EG100so 50 GATGCTGCAIAIMGCAGCTGCTTTTTGCCTG Homologous to -37 to +13 TACTGGGTCTCTCTGGTT of HIV-1 LTR; overlaps TATA box EG10633 33 GAGGCGTGGCC GG GG AG C Homologous to -78 to -46 of HIV-1 LTR; overlaps GC boxes EG10730 30 CTACAGGGACTTTCCGTTGGGGACTTTCC Homologous to -111 to -82 of HIV-1 LTR; overlaps enhancers EG10842 42 CCTTTTTAAAGACCGTAAAGAAAAATAAGCAC Homologous to +244 to +285 of HIV-1 AAGTTTTATC LTR downstream from HIV-1 promoter EG11033 33 GTTAGTTTTGTAACGGTTAAAAITGCGGAGICG Homologous to -81 to -49 of P6 promoter; overlaps distal GC box EG11133 33 CTACAGIAIATAIAGCACGGTACTGCCGCAGCT Homologous to -38 to -6 of P6 promoter; overlaps TATA box EG11330 30 CTTTCTTTCTGGGCTGCTTTTTCCTGGACT Homologous to -5 to +25 of P6 promoter EG11425 25 CCCCCTCCCCCCCCCGGGCGGAGCG Sequence of last 10 nucleotides is homologous to -58 to -49 of P6 promoter; overlaps part of distal GC box EG11825 25 CCCCCCCCCCCCTTTGTTAAAAITG Sequence of last 10 nucleotides is homologous to -66 to -57 of P6 promoter; overlaps 3 nucleotides of distal GC box EG11520 20 CGGTTAAAAT CGGAGCG Homologous to -68 to -49 of P6 promoter; overlaps distal GC box Sequences homologous to TATA boxes, GC boxes, or HIV-1 enhancers are underlined.