Tfb6, a previously unidentified subunit of the general transcription factor TFIIH, facilitates dissociation of Ssl2 helicase after transcription initiation.

Kenji Murakami, Brian J Gibbons, Ralph E Davis, Shigeki Nagai, Xin Liu, Philip J J Robinson, Tinghe Wu, Craig D Kaplan, Roger D Kornberg

Department of Structural Biology, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, USA.

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 2012 Mar 27

filter terms:

General transcription factor TFIIH, previously described as a 10-subunit complex, is essential for transcription and DNA repair. An eleventh subunit now identified, termed Tfb6, exhibits 45% sequence similarity to human nuclear mRNA export factor 5. Tfb6 dissociates from TFIIH as a heterodimer with the Ssl2 subunit, a DNA helicase that drives promoter melting for the initiation of transcription. Tfb6 does not, however, dissociate Ssl2 from TFIIH in the context of a fully assembled transcription preinitiation complex. Our findings suggest a dynamic state of Ssl2, allowing its engagement in multiple cellular processes.

Citation

Kenji Murakami, Brian J Gibbons, Ralph E Davis, Shigeki Nagai, Xin Liu, Philip J J Robinson, Tinghe Wu, Craig D Kaplan, Roger D Kornberg. Tfb6, a previously unidentified subunit of the general transcription factor TFIIH, facilitates dissociation of Ssl2 helicase after transcription initiation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America. 2012 Mar 27;109(13):4816-21