Purified RNA Polymerase Research Articles

Essential Components of Borreliella (Borrelia) burgdorferi In Vitro Transcription Assays.

Borreliella burgdorferi is a bacterial pathogen with limited metabolic and genomic repertoires. B. burgdorferi transits extracellularly between vertebrates and ticks and dramatically remodels its transcriptional profile to survive in disparate environments during infection. A focus of B. burgdorferi studies is to clearly understand how the bacteria responds to its environment through transcriptional changes. In vitro transcription assays allow for the basic mechanisms of transcriptional regulation to be biochemically dissected. Here, we present a detailed protocol describing B. burgdorferi RNA polymerase purification and storage, sigma factor purification, DNA template generation, and in vitro transcription assays. The protocol describes the use of RNA polymerase purified from B. burgdorferi 5A4 RpoC-His (5A4-RpoC). 5A4-RpoC is a previously published strain harboring a 10XHis-tag on the rpoC gene encoding the largest subunit of the RNA polymerase. In vitro transcription assays consist of the RNA polymerase purified from strain 5A4-RpoC, a recombinant version of the housekeeping sigma factor RpoD, and a PCR-generated double-stranded DNA template. While the protein purification techniques and approaches to assembling in vitro transcription assays are conceptually well understood and relatively common, handling considerations for RNA polymerases often differ from organism to organism. The protocol presented here is designed for enzymatic studies on the B. burgdorferi RNA polymerase. The method can be adapted to test the role of transcription factors, promoters, and post-translational modifications on the activity of the RNA polymerase.

Mycobacteriophage D29 induced association of Mycobacterial RNA polymerase with ancillary factors leads to increased transcriptional activity.

Mycobacteriophage D29 infects species belonging to the genus Mycobacterium including the deadly pathogen Mycobacterium tuberculosis. D29 is a lytic phage, although, related to the lysogenic mycobacteriophage L5. This phage is unable to lysogenize in mycobacteria as it lacks the gene encoding the phage repressor. Infection by many mycobacteriophages cause various changes in the host that ultimately leads to inactivation of the latter. One of the host targets often modified in the process is RNA polymerase. During our investigations with phage D29 infected Mycobacterium smegmatis (Msm) we observed that the promoters from both phage, and to a lesser extent those of the host were found to be more active in cells that were exposed to D29, as compared to the unexposed. Further experiments indicate that the RNA polymerase purified from phage infected cells possessed higher affinity for promoters particularly those that were phage derived. Comparison of the purified RNA polymerase preparations from infected and uninfected cells showed that several ancillary transcription factors, Sigma factor F, Sigma factor H, CarD and RbpA are prominently associated with the RNA polymerase from infected cells. Based on our observations we conclude that the higher activity of RNA polymerase observed in D29 infected cells is due to its increased association with ancillary transcription factors.

A majority of Rhodobacter sphaeroides promoters lack a crucial RNA polymerase recognition feature, enabling coordinated transcription activation

Using an in vitro transcription system with purified RNA polymerase (RNAP) to investigate rRNA synthesis in the photoheterotrophic α-proteobacterium Rhodobacter sphaeroides, we identified a surprising feature of promoters recognized by the major holoenzyme. Transcription from R. sphaeroides rRNA promoters was unexpectedly weak, correlating with absence of -7T, the very highly conserved thymine found at the last position in -10 elements of promoters in most bacterial species. Thymine substitutions for adenine at position -7 in the three rRNA promoters strongly increased intrinsic promoter activity, indicating that R. sphaeroides RNAP can utilize -7T when present. rRNA promoters were activated by purified R. sphaeroides CarD, a transcription factor found in many bacterial species but not in β- and γ-proteobacteria. Overall, CarD increased the activity of 15 of 16 native R. sphaeroides promoters tested in vitro that lacked -7T, whereas it had no effect on three of the four native promoters that contained -7T. Genome-wide bioinformatic analysis of promoters from R. sphaeroides and two other α-proteobacterial species indicated that 30 to 43% contained -7T, whereas 90 to 99% of promoters from non-α-proteobacteria contained -7T. Thus, promoters lacking -7T appear to be widespread in α-proteobacteria and may have evolved away from consensus to enable their coordinated regulation by transcription factors like CarD. We observed a strong reduction in R. sphaeroides CarD levels when cells enter stationary phase, suggesting that reduced activation by CarD may contribute to inhibition of rRNA transcription when cells enter stationary phase, the stage of growth when bacterial ribosome synthesis declines.

Mechanisms of Transcriptional Regulation by an ER Stress‐Responsive Enhancer

ATF6α is a transcription factor that functions as a master regulator of many ER stress‐responsive target genes. HSPA5 (also known as Grp78) is an ATF6α‐targeted ER‐stress responsive genes. It contains 3 tandemly repeated ER stress response elements (ERSE). The ERSE enhancer‐like sites are very close to the core promoter, making it an excellent model for studies of enhancer function using a natural promoter with its regulatory regions. Previous studies have shown that a collection of transcription factors contribute to transcriptional regulation via the HSPA5 ERSE region; however, little is known about how these transcription factors collaborate to drive activation. To gain insight into this question, we have established an in vitro system that recapitulates ATF6α‐dependent transcriptional activation with purified RNA polymerase II, Mediator, and transcription factors. An unexpected finding from this work is our discovery that Elongin, best known as an RNA polymerase II elongation factor, plays an important role in ATF6α and NF‐Y dependent activation of the HSPA5 promoter. Mechanistic studies suggest that Elongin functions with TFIID and Mediator at an early stage in assembly of active initiation complexes. These results provide a foundation for future efforts to dissect the interplay of ERSE‐binding transcription factors and coregulators in HSPA5 activation.Support or Funding InformationThis work was supported in part by a grant to the Stowers Institute for Medical Research from the Helen Nelson Medical Research Fund at the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation.

For Want of a Template

For Want of a Template

Role of the terminator hairpin in the biogenesis of functional Hfq-binding sRNAs.

Rho-independent transcription terminators of the genes encoding bacterial Hfq-binding sRNAs possess a set of seven or more T residues at the 3′ end, as noted in previous studies. Here, we have studied the role of the terminator hairpin in the biogenesis of sRNAs focusing on SgrS and RyhB in Escherichia coli. We constructed variant sRNA genes in which the GC-rich inverted repeat sequences are extended to stabilize the terminator hairpins. We demonstrate that the extension of the hairpin stem leads to generation of heterogeneous transcripts in which the poly(U) tail is shortened. The transcripts with shortened poly(U) tails no longer bind to Hfq and lose the ability to repress the target mRNAs. The shortened transcripts are generated in an in vitro transcription system with purified RNA polymerase, indicating that the generation of shortened transcripts is caused by premature transcription termination. We conclude that the terminator structure of sRNA genes is optimized to generate functional sRNAs. Thus, the Rho-independent terminators of sRNA genes possess two common features: a long T residue stretch that is a prerequisite for generation of functional sRNAs and a moderate strength of hairpin structure that ensures the termination at the seventh or longer position within the consecutive T stretch. The modulation of the termination position at the Rho-independent terminators is critical for biosynthesis of functional sRNAs.

Production and characterization of a highly pure RNA polymerase holoenzyme from Mycobacterium tuberculosis

Recent publications have shown that active RNA polymerase (RNAP) from Mycobacterium tuberculosis (MtbRNAP) can be produced by expressing all four subunits in a single recombinant Escherichia coli strain [1–3]. By reducing the number of plasmids and changing the codon usage of the Mtb genes in the co-expression system published by Banerjee et al. [1], we present a simplified, detailed and reproducible protocol for the purification of recombinant MtbRNAP containing the ω subunit. Moreover, we describe the formation of ternary elongation complexes (TECs) with a short fluorescence-labeled RNA primer and DNA oligonucleotides, suitable for transcription elongation studies. The purification of milligram quantities of the pure and highly active holoenzyme omits ammonium sulfate or polyethylene imine precipitation steps [4] and requires only 5 g of wet cells. Our results indicate that subunit assemblies other than α2ββ’ω·σA can be separated by ion-exchange chromatography on Mono Q column and that assemblies with the wrong RNAP subunit stoichiometry lack transcriptional activity. We show that MtbRNAP TECs can be stalled by NTP substrate deprivation and chased upon the addition of missing NTP(s) without the need of any accessory proteins. Finally, we demonstrate the ability of the purified MtbRNAP to initiate transcription from a promoter and establish that its open promoter complexes are stabilized by the M. tuberculosis protein CarD.

Improved method for soluble expression and rapid purification of yeast TFIIA

In vitro transcription systems have been utilized to elucidate detailed mechanisms of transcription. Purified RNA polymerase II (pol II) and general transcription factors (GTFs) are required for the in vitro reconstitution of eukaryotic transcription systems. Among GTFs, TFIID and TFIIA play critical roles in the early stage of transcription initiation; TFIID first binds to the DNA in transcription initiation and TFIIA regulates TFIID's DNA binding activity. Despite the important roles of TFIIA, the time-consuming steps required to purify it, such as denaturing and refolding, have hampered the preparation of in vitro transcription systems. Here, we report an improved method for soluble expression and rapid purification of yeast TFIIA. The subunits of TFIIA, TOA1 and TOA2, were bacterially expressed as fusion proteins in soluble form, then processed by the PreScission protease and co-purified. TFIIA's heterodimer formation was confirmed by size exclusion chromatography−multiangle light scattering (SEC−MALS). The hydrodynamic radius (Rh) and radius of gyration (Rg) were measured by dynamic light scattering (DLS) and small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS), respectively. The Rg/Rh value implied that the intrinsically disordered region of TOA1 might not have an extended structure in solution. Our improved method provides highly purified TFIIA of sufficient quality for biochemical, biophysical, and structural analyses of eukaryotic transcription systems.

Isolation and Analysis of RNA Polymerase Supramolecular Complex with Associated Proteins.

Transcription machinery plays a central role in both the gene expression and nucleoid compaction. In this chapter we elaborate on the optimization of RNA polymerase purification protocol using a mild procedure with the purpose of preserving its native composition. This protocol combines protein extraction under non-denaturing conditions, heparin based affinity purification, and consequent BN-PAGE-SDS-PAGE separation. The outcome is an experimental procedure for screening RNA polymerase composition with associated proteins, in various bacterial strains or mutant backgrounds. With modifications in the column purification step, this procedure can be applied for isolation and identification of the components of other multi-protein complexes.

Purification of Crystallization-Grade RNA Polymerase I from S. cerevisiae.

Purification of RNA polymerase (Pol) I is essential for functional as well as for structural studies. The product needs to be extremely pure in order to exclude secondary effects, e.g., caused by copurified nucleic acids in subsequent experiments. For this purpose, the method presented here was originally introduced nearly a decade ago but underwent constant optimization [1]. The polymerase is extracted from its endogenous source, since no overexpression system for the entire 590 kDa, 14-subunit complex is available thus far. Following yeast cultivation, a number of standard protein purification techniques are applied and combined to a robust but elaborate procedure that takes 3 days. In brief, a yeast strain with histidine-tagged RNA polymerase I is fermented, cells are broken by bead beating, and cell debris is removed by a two-step centrifugation. The lysate is then dialyzed, the Pol-I-containing pellet resuspended, and polymerase I enriched by a His-trap affinity step, followed by sequential purification via anion and cation exchange and a final size exclusion chromatography.

Purification and Characterization of Recombinant Deinococcus radiodurans RNA Polymerase.

The radioresistant bacterium Deinococcus radiodurans is one of the most interesting models for studies of cell stress resistance. Analysis of the mechanisms of gene expression in D. radiodurans revealed some specific features of the transcription apparatus that might play a role in cell resistance to DNA-damaging conditions. In particular, RNA polymerase from D. radiodurans forms unstable promoter complexes and during transcription elongation has a much higher rate of RNA cleavage than RNA polymerase from Escherichia coli. Analysis of the structure and functions of D. radiodurans RNA polymerase is complicated due to the absence of convenient genetic systems for making mutations in the RNA polymerase genes and difficulties with enzyme purification. In this work, we developed a system for expression of D. radiodurans RNA polymerase in E. coli cells. We obtained an expression vector encoding all core RNA polymerase subunits and defined optimal conditions for the expression and purification of the RNA polymerase. It was found that D. radiodurans RNA polymerase has much higher rates of RNA cleavage than E. coli RNA polymerase under a wide range of conditions, including variations in the concentration of catalytic magnesium ions and pH values of the reaction buffer. The expression system can be used for further studies of the RNA cleavage reaction and the mechanisms of transcription regulation in D. radiodurans, including analysis of mutant RNA polymerase variants.

Cloning, soluble expression, and purification of the RNA polymerase II subunit RPB5 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae

We report the molecular cloning, expression, and single-step homogeneous purification of RNA polymerase II subunit RPB5 from Saccharomyces cerevisiae. RPB5 is a 210 amino acid nuclear protein that functions as the fifth largest subunit of polymerase II and plays a central role in transcription. The gene that codes for RPB5 was generated by amplification by polymerase chain reaction. It was then inserted in the expression vector pET28a(+) under the transcriptional control of the bacteriophage T7 promoter and lac operator. BL21(DE3) Escherichia coli strain transformed with the rpb5 expression vector pET28a(+)-rpb5 accumulates large amounts of a soluble protein of about 30 kDa (25 kDa plus 5 kDa double His6-Tag at N and C-terminal). The protein was purified to homogeneity using immobilized metal affinity chromatography. RPB5 recombinant protein was further confirmed by immunoblotting with anti-His antibody. In this study, the expression and purification procedures have provided a simple and efficient method to obtain pure RPB5 in large quantities. This will provide an opportunity to study the role of S. cerevisiae RPB5 in gene expression and transcription regulation. Furthermore, it can provide additional knowledge of the interaction partners of RPB5 during various steps of transcription and gene expression.

Activation of a Chimeric Rpb5/RpoH Subunit Using Library Selection

Rpb5 is a general subunit of all eukaryotic RNA polymerases which consists of a N-terminal and a C-terminal domain. The corresponding archaeal subunit RpoH contains only the conserved C-terminal domain without any N-terminal extensions. A chimeric construct, termed rp5H, which encodes the N-terminal yeast domain and the C-terminal domain from Pyrococcus furiosus is unable to complement the lethal phenotype of a yeast rpb5 deletion strain (Δrpb5). By applying a random mutagenesis approach we found that the amino acid exchange E197K in the C-terminal domain of the chimeric Rp5H, either alone or with additional exchanges in the N-terminal domain, leads to heterospecific complementation of the growth deficiency of Δrpb5. Moreover, using a recently described genetic system for Pyrococcus we could demonstrate that the corresponding exchange E62K in the archaeal RpoH subunit alone without the eukaryotic N-terminal extension was stable, and growth experiments indicated no obvious impairment in vivo. In vitro transcription experiments with purified RNA polymerases showed an identical activity of the wild type and the mutant Pyrococcus RNA polymerase. A multiple alignment of RpoH sequences demonstrated that E62 is present in only a few archaeal species, whereas the great majority of sequences within archaea and eukarya contain a positively charged amino acid at this position. The crystal structures of the Sulfolobus and yeast RNA polymerases show that the positively charged arginine residues in subunits RpoH and Rpb5 most likely form salt bridges with negatively charged residues from subunit RpoK and Rpb1, respectively. A similar salt bridge might stabilize the interaction of Rp5H-E197K with a neighboring subunit of yeast RNA polymerase and thus lead to complementation of Δrpb5.

A Repeat Sequence Causes Competition of ColE1-Type Plasmids

Plasmid pSW200 from Pantoea stewartii contains 41 copies of 15-bp repeats and has a replicon that is homologous to that of ColE1. Although deleting the repeats (pSW207) does not change the copy number and stability of the plasmid. The plasmid becomes unstable and is rapidly lost from the host when a homoplasmid with the repeats (pSW201) is present. Deleting the repeats is found to reduce the transcriptional activity of RNAIp and RNAIIp by about 30%, indicating that the repeats promote the transcription of RNAI and RNAII, and how the RNAI that is synthesized by pSW201 inhibits the replication of pSW207. The immunoblot analysis herein demonstrates that RNA polymerase β subunit and σ70 in the lysate from Escherichia coli MG1655 bind to a biotin-labeled DNA probe that contains the entire sequence of the repeat region. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay also reveals that purified RNA polymerase shifts a DNA probe that contains four copies of the repeats. These results thus obtained reveal that RNA polymerase holoenzyme binds to the repeats. The repeats also exchange RNA polymerase with RNAIp and RNAIIp in vitro, revealing the mechanism by which the transcription is promoted. This investigation elucidates a mechanism by which a plasmid prevents the invasion of an incompatible plasmid and maintains its stability in the host cell during evolution.

Promoter-Specific Transcription Inhibition in Staphylococcus aureus by a Phage Protein

Phage G1 gp67 is a 23 kDa protein that binds to the Staphylococcus aureus (Sau) RNA polymerase (RNAP) σ(A) subunit and blocks cell growth by inhibiting transcription. We show that gp67 has little to no effect on transcription from most promoters but is a potent inhibitor of ribosomal RNA transcription. A 2.0-Å-resolution crystal structure of the complex between gp67 and Sau σ(A) domain 4 (σ(A)(4)) explains how gp67 joins the RNAP promoter complex through σ(A)(4) without significantly affecting σ(A)(4) function. Our results indicate that gp67 forms a complex with RNAP at most, if not all, σ(A)-dependent promoters, but selectively inhibits promoters that depend on an interaction between upstream DNA and the RNAP α-subunit C-terminal domain (αCTD). Thus, we reveal a promoter-specific transcription inhibition mechanism by which gp67 interacts with the RNAP promoter complex through one subunit (σ(A)), and selectively affects the function of another subunit (αCTD) depending on promoter usage.

Streamlined Extract Preparation for Escherichia Coli -Based Cell-Free Protein Synthesis by Sonication or Bead Vortex Mixing

Escherichia coli-based cell extract is a vital component of inexpensive and high-yielding cell-free protein synthesis reactions. However, effective preparation of E. coli cell extract is limited to high-pressure (French press-style or impinge-style) or bead mill homogenizers, which all require a significant capital investment. Here we report the viability of E. coli cell extract prepared using equipment that is both common to biotechnology laboratories and able to process small volume samples. Specifically, we assessed the low-capital-cost lysis techniques of: (i) sonication, (ii) bead vortex mixing, (iii) freeze-thaw cycling, and (iv) lysozyme incubation to prepare E. coli cell extract for cell-free protein synthesis (CFPS). We also used simple shake flask fermentations with a commercially available E. coli strain. In addition, RNA polymerase was overexpressed in the E. coli cells prior to lysis, thus eliminating the need to add independently purified RNA polymerase to the CFPS reaction. As a result, high-yielding E. coli-based extract was prepared using equipment requiring a reduced capital investment and common to biotechnology laboratories. To our knowledge, this is the first successful prokaryote-based CFPS reaction to be carried out with extract prepared by sonication or bead vortex mixing.

An alkyltransferase-like protein from Thermus thermophilus HB8 affects the regulation of gene expression in alkylation response

Alkylation is a type of stress that is fatal to cells. However, cells have various responses to alkylation. Alkyltransferase-like (ATL) protein is a novel protein involved in the repair of alkylated DNA; however, its repair mechanism at the molecular level is unclear. DNA microarray analysis revealed that the upregulation of 71 genes because of treatment with an alkylating agent N-methyl-N'-nitro-N-nitrosoguanidine was related to the presence of TTHA1564, the ATL protein from Thermus thermophilus HB8. Affinity chromatography showed a direct interaction of purified TTHA1564 with purified RNA polymerase holoenzyme. The amino acid sequence of TTHA1564 is homologous to that of the C-terminal domain of Ada protein, which acts as a transcriptional activator. These results suggest that TTHA1564 might act as a transcriptional regulator. The results of DNA microarray analysis also implied that the alkylating agent induced oxidation stress in addition to alkylation stress.

Internal Initiation of Influenza Virus Replication of Viral RNA and Complementary RNA in Vitro

Influenza virus transcription is a prototype of primer-dependent initiation. Its replication mechanism is thought to be primer-independent. The internal initiation and realignment model for influenza virus genome replication has been recently proposed (Deng, T., Vreede, F. T., and Brownlee, G. G. (2006) J. Virol. 80, 2337-2348). We obtained new results, which led us to propose a novel model for the initiation of viral RNA (vRNA) replication. In our study, we analyzed the initiation mechanisms of influenza virus vRNA and complementary RNA (cRNA) synthesis in vitro, using purified RNA polymerase (RdRp) and 84-nt model RNA templates. We found that, for vRNA → cRNA →, RdRp initiated replication from the second nucleotide of the 3'-end. Therefore, host RNA-specific ribonucleotidyltransferases are required to add one nucleotide (purine residues are preferred) to the 3'-end of vRNA to make the complete copy of vRNA. This hypothesis was experimentally proven using poly(A) polymerase. For cRNA → vRNA, the dinucleotide primer AG was synthesized from UC (fourth and fifth from the 3'-end) by RdRp pausing at the sixth U of UUU and realigning at the 3'-end of cRNA template; then RdRp was able to read through the entire template RNA. The RdRp initiation complex was not stable until it had read through the UUU of cRNA and the UUUU of vRNA at their respective 3'-ends. This was because primers overlapping with the first U of the clusters did not initiate transcription efficiently, and the initiation product of v84+G (the v84 template with an extra G at its 3'-end), AGC, realigned to the 3'-end.

Purification of RNA polymerase from mycobacteria for optimized promoter–polymerase interactions

In vitro transcription analysis is important to understand the mechanism of transcription. Various assays for the analysis of initiation, elongation and termination form the basis for better understanding of the process. Purified RNA polymerase (RNAP) with high specific activity is necessary to carry out variety of these specific reactions. The RNAP purified from Mycobacterium smegmatis from exponential phase showed low promoter specificity in promoter–polymerase interaction studies. This is due to the presence of a large number of sigma factors during exponential phase and under-representation of σ A required for house-keeping transcription. We describe an in vivo reconstitution of RNAP holoenzyme with σ A and its purification, which resulted in holoenzyme with stoichiometric σ A content. The reconstituted holoenzyme showed enhanced promoter-specific binding and promoter-specific-transcription activity compared to the enzyme isolated using standard procedure. Such in vivo reconstitution of stoichiometric holoenzyme could facilitate promoter-specific transcription assays, especially in organisms which encode a large number of sigma factors.

Maintenance of RNA-DNA Hybrid Length in Bacterial RNA Polymerases

During transcription elongation the nascent RNA remains base-paired to the template strand of the DNA before it is displaced and the two strands of the DNA reanneal, resulting in the formation of a transcription "bubble" of approximately 10 bp. To examine how the length of the RNA-DNA hybrid is maintained, we assembled transcription elongation complexes on synthetic nucleic acid scaffolds that mimic the situation in which transcript displacement is compromised and the polymerase synthesizes an extended hybrid. We found that in such complexes bacterial RNA polymerase exhibit an intrinsic endonucleolytic cleavage activity that restores the hybrid to its normal length. Mutations in the region of the RNA polymerase near the site of RNA-DNA separation result in altered RNA displacement and translocation functions and as a consequence in different patterns of proofreading activities. Our data corroborate structural findings concerning the elements involved in the maintenance of the length of the RNA-DNA hybrid and suggest interplay between polymerase translocation, DNA strand separation, and intrinsic endonucleolytic activity.