I. Stagljar et al., Activation of DNA replication in yeast by recruitment of the RNA polymerase II transcription complex, BIOL CHEM, 380(5), 1999, pp. 525-530
Activators of transcription are known to also play an important and direct
role in activating DNA replication. However, the mechanism whereby they sti
mulate replication has remained elusive. One model suggests that, in the co
ntext of replication origins, transcriptional activators work by interactin
g with replication factors. We show that a defined, single interaction betw
een a DNA-bound derivative of the activator Gal4 and Gal11P, a mutant form
of the RNA polymerase II holoenzyme component Gal11, suffices for stimulati
ng DNA replication as it does for transcription. Moreover, recruitment of T
BP, which can activate transcription from a gene promoter, also stimulates
DNA replication from an origin site, These results strongly argue that tran
scriptional activators may not necessarily need to contact DNA replication
factors directly, but can stimulate replication by recruiting the RNA polym
erase II transcription complex to DNA.