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-Structure paper
Title | CueR activates transcription through a DNA distortion mechanism. |
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Journal, issue, pages | Nat Chem Biol, Vol. 17, Issue 1, Page 57-64, Year 2021 |
Publish date | Sep 28, 2020 |
Authors | Chengli Fang / Steven J Philips / Xiaoxian Wu / Kui Chen / Jing Shi / Liqiang Shen / Juncao Xu / Yu Feng / Thomas V O'Halloran / Yu Zhang / |
PubMed Abstract | The MerR-family transcription factors (TFs) are a large group of bacterial proteins responding to cellular metal ions and multiple antibiotics by binding within central RNA polymerase-binding regions ...The MerR-family transcription factors (TFs) are a large group of bacterial proteins responding to cellular metal ions and multiple antibiotics by binding within central RNA polymerase-binding regions of a promoter. While most TFs alter transcription through protein-protein interactions, MerR TFs are capable of reshaping promoter DNA. To address the question of which mechanism prevails, we determined two cryo-EM structures of transcription activation complexes (TAC) comprising Escherichia coli CueR (a prototype MerR TF), RNAP holoenzyme and promoter DNA. The structures reveal that this TF promotes productive promoter-polymerase association without canonical protein-protein contacts seen between other activator proteins and RNAP. Instead, CueR realigns the key promoter elements in the transcription activation complex by clamp-like protein-DNA interactions: these induce four distinct kinks that ultimately position the -10 element for formation of the transcription bubble. These structural and biochemical results provide strong support for the DNA distortion paradigm of allosteric transcriptional control by MerR TFs. |
External links | Nat Chem Biol / PubMed:32989300 / PubMed Central |
Methods | EM (single particle) |
Resolution | 3.69 - 4.22 Å |
Structure data | EMDB-0874, PDB-6ldi: EMDB-30268, PDB-7c17: |
Chemicals | ChemComp-ZN: ChemComp-MG: ChemComp-AG: |
Source |
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Keywords | TRANSCRIPTION (DNA to RNA) / RNA polymerase / CueR / transcription activation / TRANSCRIPTION |