L. Gaudreau et al., RNA-POLYMERASE-II HOLOENZYME RECRUITMENT IS SUFFICIENT TO REMODEL CHROMATIN AT THE YEAST PHO5 PROMOTER, Cell, 89(1), 1997, pp. 55-62
We examine transcriptional activation and chromatin remodeling at the
PHO5 promoter in yeast by fusion proteins that are thought to act by r
ecruiting the RNA polymerase II holoenzyme to DNA in the absence of a
classic activating region. These hybrid proteins (e.g., Gal11+Pho4 or
Gal4(58-97)+Pho4 in the presence of a GAL11P allele) efficiently activ
ated transcription and remodeled chromatin. Similar chromatin remodeli
ng was observed at a PHO5 promoter deleted for TATA and thus unable to
support transcription. We conclude that recruitment of the holoenzyme
or associated proteins suffices for chromatin remodeling. We also sho
w that the SWI/SNF complex is required neither for efficient transcrip
tion of the wild-type PHO5 nor the GAL1 promoters, and we observe near
ly complete chromatin remodeling at PHO5 in the absence of Snf2.