Transcription factor IID parks and drives preinitiation complexes at sharp or broad promoters

Andrea Bernardini (1) , Camille Hollinger (2) , Damaris Willgenss (2) , Ferenc Müller (3) , Didier Devys (1) , László Tora (1)

1 IGBMC - Institut de Génétique et de Biologie Moléculaire et Cellulaire
2 UNISTRA - Université de Strasbourg
3 University of Birmingham [Birmingham]

Core promoters are sites where transcriptional regulatory inputs of a gene are integrated to direct the assembly of the preinitiation complex (PIC) and RNA polymerase II (Pol II) transcription output. Until now, core promoter functions have been investigated by distinct methods, including Pol II transcription initiation site mappings and structural characterization of PICs on distinct promoters. Here, we bring together these previously unconnected observations and hypothesize how, on metazoan TATA promoters, the precisely structured building up of transcription factor (TF) IID-based PICs results in sharp transcription start site (TSS) selection; or, in contrast, how the less strictly controlled positioning of the TATA-less promoter DNA relative to TFIID-core PIC components results in alternative broad TSS selections by Pol II.

Domaines: Biologie structurale [q-bio.BM]; Génomique, Transcriptomique et Protéomique [q-bio.GN]

Andrea Bernardini, Camille Hollinger, Damaris Willgenss, Ferenc Müller, Didier Devys, et al.. Transcription factor IID parks and drives preinitiation complexes at sharp or broad promoters. Trends in Biochemical Sciences, In press, ⟨10.1016/j.tibs.2023.07.009⟩. ⟨hal-04183083⟩