@misc{oai:ir.soken.ac.jp:00000880, author = {小林, 麻己人 and コバヤシ, マコト and KOBAYASHI, Makoto}, month = {2016-02-17, 2016-02-17}, note = {In prokaryotes, the control of transcription initiation is a
key step in the regulation of gene expression. In order to
reveal the mechanism how the order of transcription is
determined among thousands of genes in a cell, it is important
to understand the intrinsic promoter strength for individual
genes (the term "promoter strength" refers to the relative rate
of synthesis of full length RNA product from a given promoter).
The level of transcription initiation is basically determined by
the sequence of the promoter, the start signal of RNA synthesis.
DNA sequence analyses of a wide variety of prokaryotic promoters
have indicated that promoters for the major form of Escherichia
coli RNA polymerase (Eσ70) are composed of two conserved
hexanucleotide sequences, TATAAT and TTGACA, which are located
at 10 and 35 base-pairs, respectively, upstream of the
transcription initiation site, although a considerable variation
exists in the promoter sequence between genes within the same
organism. From thermodynamic and kinetic studies, these two
sequences are believed to determine the affinity to RNA
polymerase and the rate of DNA opening, altogether affecting the
promoter strength. However, little is known about the role of
individual bases within these two regions with respect to RNA
polymerase binding and DNA opening. In this study, I carried out
a systematic analysis of the relationship between the promoter
sequence and the promoter strength (Kobayashi, M. et al. (1990)
Nucleic Acids Res., 18, 7367-7372).
  A set of 18 variant ,lacUV5 promoters was constructed, each
carrying a single base substitution within the promoter -35
region (nucleotide positions from -36 to -31 relative to the
transcription start site). Using truncated DNA fragments
carrying these variant promoters and purified Escherichia coli
RNA polymerase holoenzyme(Eσ7O), the in vitro mixed
transcription assays were performed to determine two parameters
governing the promoter strength, i. e., the binding affinity to
RNA polymerase (parameter I) and the rate of open complex
formation (parameter II).
  Parameter I was affected to various extents, while parameter
II was mostly decreased except for two variant promoters, 34G
and 33G (the variant promoters were named according to the
position and base species of substitution). The 34G has a
sequence of TTGACA, which is completely identical with the
consensus sequence. The degree of change in parameter I mainly
depends on the position of base substitution. Base substitutions
at position -31 gave only a little effect; substitutions of C at
position -32 to any other base caused significant reduction;
base substitutions at position -35 also led to reduction,
although the effects were somewhat smaller than those of -32
base substitutions; the effects of base substitutions at
position -33, -34 and -36 were variable depending on the base
introduced. Among all possible sequences, TTGACA should be the
strongest promoter in terms of parameter I. The rate of open
complex formation (parameter II) was slower for most variant
promoters than for the reference promoter, except for the 34G
(consensus) and the 33G promoters. Again the promoter with the
consensus TTGACA sequence was the strongest.
  In order to confirm these results, I next performed an
abortive initiation assay, in which the formation of initial
oligonucleotides is measured. The reaction conditions of the
abortive initiation assay were made identical to those of the
mixed transcription assay, except that ApA was added as a
primer, and ATP, GTP and CTP were omitted (and thus [α-32P]UTP
was a sole substrate). The final level indicates the binding
affinity to RNA polymerase (parameter I'), while the reciprocal
of the time required for reaching plateau level represents the
rate of open complex formation (parameter II'). The pattern of
the promoter strength determined by the abortive initiation
assay was essentially the same as that for the mixed
transcription assay. The degree of change in parameter I' is due
to both the position and species of base substitution. However,
all variant promoters except for 34G, displayed lower values of
parameter II' than the reference promoter. In the case of
parameter II', TTGACA was the only exception that was stronger
than the reference promoter, but all other base substitutions
resulted in marked reduction to less than half the level of the
reference promoter. The alteration pattern of both parameter I'
and II', measured by the abortive initiation assay, was
essentially identical with that of parameter I and II determined
by the in vitro mixed transcription assay.
  As an attempt to compare the promoter strength of the
synthetic promoters measured by two in vitro assays with in vivo
activities, I performed β-galactosidase assay using variant
lacUV5 promoter collections fused to the lacZ structural gene.
The DNA fragments containing variant lacUV5 promoters were
inserted between the inducible ara promoter and the lacZ,
structural gene of plasmid vector pMS4342. I examined six
variant promoters, which all showed unique promoter strength
patterns in vitro. The promoter strength in vivo was determined
simply by monitoring β-galactosidase activity in the absence of
arabinose. The promoter 34G was as strong as the reference, and
the promoters 33G and 31T were intermediate while the others
were weak (less than 25%) . When compared with the results of two
in vitro transcription assays, the promoter strength in vivo is
in good agreement with parameter I measured by the productive
initiation assay. The consensus sequence (34G) again exhibited
the highest activity.
  The following conclusions were drawn from the data presented:
(1) Alteration in the promoter strength of variant promoters is
dependent on both the position and base species of
substitutions; (2) the consensus sequence (TTGACA) exhibits the
highest values for both parameters; (3) base substitutions at
nucleotide position -34 cause marked effect on both parameters;
(4) cytosine at nucleotide position -32 cannot be replaced with
other nucleotides without significant reduction of the promoter
strength; (5) base substitution at nucleotide position -31
exerts only a little effect on parameter I; (6) the promoter
strength in vivo is in good agreement in parameter I of in vitro
promoter strength; and (7) the consensus sequence (TTGACA)
exhibits the highest activity in vivo as well as in vitro.
  This type of experiments has been done as a collaboration
research for the analysis of sequence-strength relationship of
the promoter -10 region., application/pdf, 総研大甲第19号}, title = {大腸菌プロモーターの配列と強度の関連性}, year = {} }