FACT facilitates transcription-dependent nucleosome alteration

Rimma Belotserkovskaya, Sangtaek Oh, Vladimir A. Bondarenko, George Orphanides, Vasily M. Studitsky, Danny Reinberg

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

689 Scopus citations

Abstract

The FACT (facilitates chromatin transcription) complex is required for transcript elongation through nucleosomes by RNA polymerase II (Pol II) in vitro. Here, we show that FACT facilitates Pol II-driven transcription by destabilizing nucleosomal structure so that one histone H2A-H2B dimer is removed during enzyme passage. We also demonstrate that FACT possesses intrinsic histone chaperone activity and can deposit core histones onto DNA. Importantly, FACT activity requires both of its constituent subunits and is dependent on the highly acidic C terminus of its larger subunit, Spt16. These findings define the mechanism by which Pol II can transcribe through chromatin without disrupting its epigenetic status.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1090-1093
Number of pages4
JournalScience
Volume301
Issue number5636
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 22 2003

Keywords

  • Amino Acid Sequence
  • Animals
  • Cell Cycle Proteins/chemistry
  • Cell Line
  • DNA-Binding Proteins/chemistry
  • DNA/metabolism
  • Dimerization
  • HeLa Cells
  • High Mobility Group Proteins/chemistry
  • Histones/metabolism
  • Humans
  • Models, Genetic
  • Molecular Chaperones/chemistry
  • Molecular Sequence Data
  • Nucleosomes/metabolism
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Subunits
  • RNA Polymerase II/metabolism
  • Recombinant Proteins/chemistry
  • Templates, Genetic
  • Transcription Factors/chemistry
  • Transcription, Genetic
  • Transcriptional Elongation Factors/chemistry

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