Simian virus 40 large T antigen interacts with human TFIIB-related factor and small nuclear RNA-activating protein complex for transcriptional activation of TATA-containing polymerase III promoters
Damania, B.; Mital, R.; Alwine, J.C.
Molecular and Cellular Biology 18(3): 1331-1338
1998
ISSN/ISBN: 0270-7306 PMID: 9488448 DOI: 10.1128/mcb.18.3.1331
Accession: 009416931
The TATA-binding protein (TBP) is common to the basal transcription factors of all three RNA polymerases, being associated with polymerase-specific TBP-associated factors (TAFs). Simian virus 40 large T antigen has previously been shown to interact with the TBP-TAFII complexes, TFIID (B. Damania and J. C. Alwine, Genes Dev. 10:1369-1381, 1996), and the TBP-TAFI complex, SL1 (W. Zhai, J. Tuan, and L. Comai, Genes Dev. 11: 1605-1617, 1997), and in both cases these interactions are critical for transcriptional activation. We show a similar mechanism for activation of the class 3 polymerase III (pol III) promoter for the U6 RNA gene. Large T antigen can activate this promoter, which contains a TATA box and an upstream proximal sequence element but cannot activate the TATA-less, intragenic VAI promoter (a class 2, pol III promoter). Mutants of large T antigen that cannot activate pol II promoters also fail to activate the U6 promoter. We provide evidence that large T antigen can interact with the TBP-containing pol III transcription factor human TFIIB-related factor (hBRF), as well as with at least two of the three TAFs in the pol 111-specific small nuclear RNA-activating protein complex (SNAPc). In addition, we demonstrate that large T antigen can cofractionate and coimmunoprecipitate with the hBRF-containing complex TFIIIB derived from HeLa cells infected with a recombinant adenovirus which expresses large T antigen. Hence, similar to its function with pot I and pol II promoters, large T antigen interacts with TBP-containing, basal pol III transcription factors and appears to perform a TAF-like function.