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DNA-bend modulation in a repressor-to-activator switching mechanism

Nature volume 374, pages 370–375 (1995)Cite this article

Abstract

RECENT discoveries of activator proteins that distort DNA but bear no obvious activation domains have focused attention on the role of DNA structure in transcriptional regulation1. Here we describe how the transcription factor MerR can mediate repression as well as activation through stereospecific modulation of DNA structure. The represser form of MerR binds between the –10 and –35 promoter elements of the bacterial mercury-detoxification genes, PT, allowing RNA polymerase to form an inactive complex with PT and MerR at this stress-inducible promoter2,3. Upon mercuric ion binding, Hg–MerR converts this polymerase complex into the transcriptionally active or 'open' form2–4. We show here that MerR bends DNA towards itself in a manner similar to the bacterial catabolite-activator protein CAP, namely at two loci demarked by DNase I sensitivity, and that the activator conformation, Hg–MerR, relaxes these bends. This activator-induced unbending, when coupled with the previously described untwisting of the operator5, remodels the promoter and makes it a better template for the poised polymerase.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Department of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Cell Biology, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Evanston, Illinois, 60208-3113, USA

    Aseem Z. Ansari, James E. Bradner & Thomas V. O'Halloran

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  1. Aseem Z. Ansari
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  2. James E. Bradner
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  3. Thomas V. O'Halloran
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Ansari, A., Bradner, J. & O'Halloran, T. DNA-bend modulation in a repressor-to-activator switching mechanism. Nature 374, 370–375 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/374370a0

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