Architecture of an RNA polymerase II transcription pre-initiation complex.

The protein density and arrangement of subunits of a complete, 32-protein, RNA polymerase II (pol II) transcription pre-initiation complex (PIC) were determined by means of cryogenic electron microscopy and a combination of chemical cross-linking and mass spectrometry. The PIC showed a marked division in two parts, one containing all the general transcription factors (GTFs) and the other pol II. Promoter DNA was associated only with the GTFs, suspended above the pol II cleft and not in contact with pol II. This structural principle of the PIC underlies its conversion to a transcriptionally active state; the PIC is poised for the formation of a transcription bubble and descent of the DNA into the pol II cleft.

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

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.

Subunit architecture of general transcription factor TFIIH.

Structures of complete 10-subunit yeast TFIIH and of a nested set of subcomplexes, containing 5, 6, and 7 subunits, have been determined by electron microscopy (EM) and 3D reconstruction. Consistency among all the structures establishes the location of the "minimal core" subunits (Ssl1, Tfb1, Tfb2, Tfb4, and Tfb5), and additional densities can be specifically attributed to Rad3, Ssl2, and the TFIIK trimer. These results can be further interpreted by placement of previous X-ray structures into the additional densities to give a preliminary picture of the RNA polymerase II preinitiation complex. In this picture, the key catalytic components of TFIIH, the Ssl2 ATPase/helicase and the Kin28 protein kinase are in proximity to their targets, downstream promoter DNA and the RNA polymerase C-terminal domain.

Structure of three class I human alcohol dehydrogenases complexed with isoenzyme specific formamide inhibitors.

Formamides are aldehyde analogues that have demonstrated potent and selective inhibition of human alcohol dehydrogenase isoenzymes. The alphaalpha, beta(1)beta(1), gamma(2)gamma(2), and sigmasigma isoforms have all been found to be strongly inhibited by substituted formamides. In this paper, the structure of the alphaalpha isoform of human alcohol dehydrogenase complexed with N-cyclopentyl-N-cyclobutylformamide was determined by X-ray crystallography to 2.5 A resolution, the beta(1)beta(1) isoform of human alcohol dehydrogenase complexed with N-benzylformamide and with N-heptylformamide was determined to 1.6 and 1.65 A resolution, respectively, and the structure of the gamma(2)gamma(2) isoform complexed with N-1-methylheptylformamide was determined to 1.45 A resolution. These structures provide the first substrate-level view of the local structural differences that give rise to the individual substrate preferences shown by these highly related isoenzymes. Consistent with previous work, the carbonyl oxygen of the inhibitors interacts directly with the catalytic zinc and the hydroxyl group of Thr48 (Ser48 for gamma(2)gamma(2)) of the enzyme. The benzene ring of N-benzylformamide and the carbon chains of N-heptylformamide and N-1-methylheptylformamide interact with the sides of the hydrophobic substrate pocket whose size and shape is dictated by residue exchanges between the beta(1)beta(1) and gamma(2)gamma(2) isoenzymes. In particular, the exchange of Ser for Thr at position 48 and the exchange of Val for Leu at position 141 in the gamma(2)gamma(2) isoenzyme create an environment with stereoselectivity for the R-enantiomer of the branched N-1-methylheptylformamide inhibitor in this isoenzyme. The primary feature of the alphaalpha isoform is the Ala for Phe93 exchange that enlarges the active site near the catalytic zinc and creates the specificity for the branched N-cyclopentyl-N-cyclobutylformamide inhibitor, which shows the greatest selectivity for this unique isoenzyme of any of the formamide inhibitors.

Crystal structure of the autocatalytic initiator of glycogen biosynthesis, glycogenin.

Glycogen is an important storage reserve of glucose present in many organisms, from bacteria to humans. Its biosynthesis is initiated by a specialized protein, glycogenin, which has the unusual property of transferring glucose from UDP-glucose to form an oligosaccharide covalently attached to itself at Tyr194. Glycogen synthase and the branching enzyme complete the synthesis of the polysaccharide. The structure of glycogenin was solved in two different crystal forms. Tetragonal crystals contained a pentamer of dimers in the asymmetric unit arranged in an improper non-crystallographic 10-fold relationship, and orthorhombic crystals contained a monomer in the asymmetric unit that is arranged about a 2-fold crystallographic axis to form a dimer. The structure was first solved to 3.4 A using the tetragonal crystal form and a three-wavelength Se-Met multi-wavelength anomalous diffraction (MAD) experiment. Subsequently, an apo-enzyme structure and a complex between glycogenin and UDP-glucose/Mn2+ were solved by molecular replacement to 1.9 A using the orthorhombic crystal form. Glycogenin contains a conserved DxD motif and an N-terminal beta-alpha-beta Rossmann-like fold that are common to the nucleotide-binding domains of most glycosyltransferases. Although sequence identity amongst glycosyltransferases is minimal, the overall folds are similar. In all of these enzymes, the DxD motif is essential for coordination of the catalytic divalent cation, most commonly Mn2+. We propose a mechanism in which the Mn2+ that associates with the UDP-glucose molecule functions as a Lewis acid to stabilize the leaving group UDP and to facilitate the transfer of the glucose moiety to an intermediate nucleophilic acceptor in the enzyme active site, most likely Asp162. Following transient transfer to Asp162, the glucose moiety is then delivered to the final acceptor, either directly to Tyr194 or to glucose residues already attached to Tyr194. The positioning of the bound UDP-glucose far from Tyr194 in the glycogenin structure raises questions as to the mechanism for the attachment of the first glucose residues. Possibly the initial glucosylation is via inter-dimeric catalysis with an intra-molecular mechanism employed later in oligosaccharide synthesis.