A TFIIH-associated mediator head is a basal factor of small nuclear spliced leader RNA gene transcription in early-diverged trypanosomes.

ABSTRACT: Genome annotation suggested that early-diverged kinetoplastids possess a reduced set of basal transcription factors. More recent work, however, on the lethal parasite Trypanosoma brucei identified extremely divergent orthologs of TBP, TFIIA, TFIIB, and TFIIH which, together with the small nuclear RNA-activating protein complex, form a transcription preinitiation complex (PIC) at the spliced leader (SL) RNA gene (SLRNA) promoter. The SL RNA is a small nuclear RNA and a trans splicing substrate for the maturation of all pre-mRNAs which is metabolized continuously to sustain gene expression. Here, we identified and biochemically characterized a novel TFIIH-associated protein complex in T. brucei (Med-T) consisting of nine subunits whose amino acid sequences are conserved only among kinetoplas

SUBMITTER: Lee JH 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2976424 | biostudies-literature | 2010 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature