This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Copyright Information Books from ASM Press MicrobeWorld Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Hu, P. Articles by Hernandez, N. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Hu, P. Articles by Hernandez, N.

Characterization of Human RNA Polymerase III Identifies Orthologues for Saccharomyces cerevisiae RNA Polymerase III Subunits

Ping Hu,¹ Si Wu,¹ Yuling Sun,² Chih-Chi Yuan,¹ Ryuji Kobayashi,^3, Michael P. Myers,³ and Nouria Hernandez^2*

Graduate Program of Molecular and Cellular Biology, State University of New York at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, New York 11794,¹ Howard Hughes Medical Institute,² Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York 11724³

Received 14 June 2002/ Returned for modification 5 August 2002/ Accepted 15 August 2002

Unlike Saccharomyces cerevisiae RNA polymerase III, human RNA polymerase III has not been entirely characterized. Orthologues of the yeast RNA polymerase III subunits C128 and C37 remain unidentified, and for many of the other subunits, the available information is limited to database sequences with various degrees of similarity to the yeast subunits. We have purified an RNA polymerase III complex and identified its components. We found that two RNA polymerase III subunits, referred to as RPC8 and RPC9, displayed sequence similarity to the RNA polymerase II RPB7 and RPB4 subunits, respectively. RPC8 and RPC9 associated with each other, paralleling the association of the RNA polymerase II subunits, and were thus paralogues of RPB7 and RPB4. Furthermore, the complex contained a prominent 80-kDa polypeptide, which we called RPC5 and which corresponded to the human orthologue of the yeast C37 subunit despite limited sequence similarity. RPC5 associated with RPC53, the human orthologue of S. cerevisiae C53, paralleling the association of the S. cerevisiae C37 and C53 subunits, and was required for transcription from the type 2 VAI and type 3 human U6 promoters. Our results provide a characterization of human RNA polymerase III and show that the RPC5 subunit is essential for transcription.

Present address: Department of Molecular Pathology, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030.

This article has been cited by other articles:

• Gerber, J., Reiter, A., Steinbauer, R., Jakob, S., Kuhn, C.-D., Cramer, P., Griesenbeck, J., Milkereit, P., Tschochner, H. (2008). Site specific phosphorylation of yeast RNA polymerase I. Nucleic Acids Res 36: 793-802 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Proshkina, G. M., Shematorova, E. K., Proshkin, S. A., Zaros, C., Thuriaux, P., Shpakovski, G. V. (2006). Ancient origin, functional conservation and fast evolution of DNA-dependent RNA polymerase III. Nucleic Acids Res 34: 3615-3624 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Zhao, M., Janas, J. A., Niki, M., Pandolfi, P. P., Van Aelst, L. (2006). Dok-1 Independently Attenuates Ras/Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase and Src/c-Myc Pathways To Inhibit Platelet-Derived Growth Factor-Induced Mitogenesis.. Mol. Cell. Biol. 26: 2479-2489 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Todaka, Y., Wang, Y., Tashiro, K., Nakashima, N., Nishimoto, T., Sekiguchi, T. (2005). Association of the GTP-Binding Protein Gtr1p With Rpc19p, a Shared Subunit of RNA Polymerase I and III in Yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Genetics 170: 1515-1524 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Hu, P., Wu, S., Hernandez, N. (2004). A role for {beta}-actin in RNA polymerase III transcription. Genes Dev. 18: 3010-3015 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Armache, K.-J., Kettenberger, H., Cramer, P. (2003). Architecture of initiation-competent 12-subunit RNA polymerase II. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 100: 6964-6968 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
• Tan, Q., Prysak, M. H., Woychik, N. A. (2003). Loss of the Rpb4/Rpb7 Subcomplex in a Mutant Form of the Rpb6 Subunit Shared by RNA Polymerases I, II, and III. Mol. Cell. Biol. 23: 3329-3338 [Abstract] [Full Text]