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Structural Studies of Eukaryotic Transcription Initiation

  • Chapter
Mechanisms of Transcription

Part of the book series: Nucleic Acids and Molecular Biology ((NUCLEIC,volume 11))

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Abstract

Eukaryotes have three distinct RNA polymerases (forms I, II, and III) that catalyze transcription of nuclear genes (Sentenac 1985). Despite their structural complexity, these multisubunit enzymes require sets of auxiliary proteins known as general transcription initiation factors to initiate transcription from corresponding class I, II, and III nuclear gene promoters (Gabrielson and Sentenac 1991; Roeder 1991; Reeder 1992; Moldonado and Reinberg 1995). TATA box-binding protein (TBP), first identified as a component of the class II initiation factor TFIID, participates in transcription by all three nuclear RNA polymerases (reviewed in Nikolov and Burley 1994). Thus, TBP is the first universal transcription initiation factor component (a situation formally analogous to that of essential subunits common to the three RNA polymerases).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratories of Molecular Biophysics and Howard Hughes Medical Institute, The Rockefeller University, 10021, New York, USA

    S. K. Burley

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  1. S. K. Burley
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Editors and Affiliations

  1. Max-Planck-Institut für Experimentelle Medizin, Hermann-Rein-Straße 3, 37075, Göttingen, Germany

    Fritz Eckstein

  2. Biochemistry Department, University of Dundee, DD1 4HN, Dundee, UK

    David M. J. Lilley

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© 1997 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg

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Burley, S.K. (1997). Structural Studies of Eukaryotic Transcription Initiation. In: Eckstein, F., Lilley, D.M.J. (eds) Mechanisms of Transcription. Nucleic Acids and Molecular Biology, vol 11. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-60691-5_16

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-60691-5_16

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg

  • Print ISBN: 978-3-642-64509-9

  • Online ISBN: 978-3-642-60691-5

  • eBook Packages: Springer Book Archive

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