Previous Article | Next Article ![]()
Molecular and Cellular Biology, December 2007, p. 8729-8738, Vol. 27, No. 24
0270-7306/07/$08.00+0 doi:10.1128/MCB.00846-07
Copyright © 2007, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Stony Brook University, Graduate Program in Molecular and Cellular Biology, Stony Brook, New York 11794,1 Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, New York 11724,2 Program of Pharmacology, Memorial Sloan Kettering Institute, New York, New York 10021,3 Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, Missouri 64110,4 Center for Integrative Genomics, Faculty of Biology and Medicine, Génopode Building, University of Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland5
Received 14 May 2007/ Returned for modification 25 June 2007/ Accepted 1 October 2007
Chromatin remodeling and histone modification are essential for eukaryotic transcription regulation, but little is known about chromatin-modifying activities acting on RNA polymerase III (Pol III)-transcribed genes. The human U6 small nuclear RNA promoter, located 5' of the transcription start site, consists of a core region directing basal transcription and an activating region that recruits the transcription factors Oct-1 and Staf (ZNF143). Oct-1 activates transcription in part by helping recruit core binding factors, but nothing is known about the mechanisms of transcription activation by Staf. We show that Staf activates U6 transcription from a preassembled chromatin template in vitro and associates with several proteins linked to chromatin modification, among them chromodomain-helicase-DNA binding protein 8 (CHD8). CHD8 binds to histone H3 di- and trimethylated on lysine 4. It resides on the human U6 promoter as well as the mRNA IRF3 promoter in vivo and contributes to efficient transcription from both these promoters. Thus, Pol III transcription from type 3 promoters uses some of the same factors used for chromatin remodeling at Pol II promoters.
Published ahead of print on 15 October 2007.
This article has been cited by other articles:
Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology. For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»