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Molecular and Cellular Biology, August 2005, p. 7314-7322, Vol. 25, No. 16
0270-7306/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/MCB.25.16.7314-7322.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Trypanosomal TBP Functions with the Multisubunit Transcription Factor tSNAP To Direct Spliced-Leader RNA Gene Expression

Anish Das,1 Qing Zhang,2 Jennifer B. Palenchar,1 Bithi Chatterjee,3 George A. M. Cross,3 and Vivian Bellofatto1*

Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-New Jersey Medical School, Newark, New Jersey 07103,1 Bioinformatics, Schering Plough Research Institute, Kenilworth, New Jersey 07033,2 The Rockefeller University, New York, New York 100213

Received 1 March 2005/ Returned for modification 15 April 2005/ Accepted 18 May 2005

Protein-coding genes of trypanosomes are mainly transcribed polycistronically and cleaved into functional mRNAs in a process that requires trans splicing of a capped 39-nucleotide RNA derived from a short transcript, the spliced-leader (SL) RNA. SL RNA genes are individually transcribed from the only identified trypanosome RNA polymerase II promoter. We have purified and characterized a sequence-specific SL RNA promoter-binding complex, tSNAPc, from the pathogenic parasite Trypanosoma brucei, which induces robust transcriptional activity within the SL RNA gene. Two tSNAPc subunits resemble essential components of the metazoan transcription factor SNAPc, which directs small nuclear RNA transcription. A third subunit is unrelated to any eukaryotic protein and identifies tSNAPc as a unique trypanosomal transcription factor. Intriguingly, the unusual trypanosome TATA-binding protein (TBP) tightly associates with tSNAPc and is essential for SL RNA gene transcription. These findings provide the first view of the architecture of a transcriptional complex that assembles at an RNA polymerase II-dependent gene promoter in a highly divergent eukaryote.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Dept. of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, UMDNJ-NJ Medical School, International Center for Public Health, 225 Warren St., Newark, NJ 07103. Phone: (973) 972-4483, ext. 2-4406. Fax: (973) 972-3644. E-mail: bellofat{at}umdnj.edu.

Molecular and Cellular Biology, August 2005, p. 7314-7322, Vol. 25, No. 16
0022-538X/05/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/MCB.25.16.7314-7322.2005
Copyright © 2005, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



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