Transcriptionally active TFIIH of the early-diverged eukaryote Trypanosoma brucei harbors two novel core subunits but not a cyclin-activating kinase complex.

ABSTRACT: Trypanosoma brucei is a member of the early-diverged, protistan family Trypanosomatidae and a lethal parasite causing African Sleeping Sickness in humans. Recent studies revealed that T. brucei harbors extremely divergent orthologues of the general transcription factors TBP, TFIIA, TFIIB and TFIIH and showed that these factors are essential for initiating RNA polymerase II-mediated synthesis of spliced leader (SL) RNA, a trans splicing substrate and key molecule in trypanosome mRNA maturation. In yeast and metazoans, TFIIH is composed of a core of seven conserved subunits and the ternary cyclin-activating kinase (CAK) complex. Conversely, only four TFIIH subunits have been identified in T. brucei. Here, we characterize the first protistan TFIIH which was purified in its transcriptionally a

SUBMITTER: Lee JH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2699521 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jun

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature