• Search Research Projects
  • Search Researchers
  • How to Use
  1. Back to project page

2002 Fiscal Year Final Research Report Summary

Understanding of chromatin infrastructure that allows transcription initiation

Research Project

Project/Area Number 13680770
Research Category

Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)

Allocation TypeSingle-year Grants
Section一般
Research Field Molecular biology
Research InstitutionKONAN UNIVERSITY

Principal Investigator

OHYAMA Takashi  Konan University, Biology, Professor, 理工学部, 教授 (60268513)

Project Period (FY) 2001 – 2002
Keywordschromatin / nucleosome / bent DNA / promoter / transcriptional regulation / higher order DNA structure
Research Abstract

This project has been carried out to understand chromatin infrastructure that allows activator binding at the first stage of transcription. A synthetic left-handed superhelical bent DNA of 176 bp (T20) was ligated to HSV tk promoter or human hsp70B promoter to generate two reporters. The T20 had been found to activate the tk promoter by about 100-fold. The third reporter contained mouse pgk-1 promoter whose helical axis is slightly curved toward left. Each of these reporters was transiently introduced into COS-7 nuclei. It was revealed that nucleosomes were formed on both the T20-flanked tk promoter and the pgk-1 promoter in the nuclei. A preliminary data also suggested that the phenomenon called "promoter-proximal pausing" was relieved to some extent when the T20 was introduced into upstream of the hsp70B promoter. This effect was presumably caused by the chromatin structure formed in the downstream region of the transcription initiation site. Then, we have established a HeLa cell line that contains a single copy of the T20-tk promoter construct in heterochromatin region of its genome. Surprisingly, it was found that the promoter was active in the locus. Finally, three-dimensional architectures of 177 human promoters were theoretically modeled. The result showed that in most cases the region containing the TATA box overlaps a left- or right-handed superhelical bent DNA structure and the region locating in the downstream vicinity of the transcription initiation site is almost straight.
All of these results strongly indicate that bent DNAs mimicking left-handed superhelix function in transcription by actively forming nucleosomes. On the other hand, it is speculated that bent DNAs mimicking right-handed superhelical structure may help transcription by inhibiting nucleosome formation.

  • Research Products

    (14 results)

All Other

All Publications (14 results)

  • [Publications] Takashi Ohyama: "Intrinsic DNA bends : an organizer of local chromatin structure for transcription"BioEssays. 23. 708-715 (2001)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Publications] Takahiro Kusakabe: "Linearization and integration of DNA into cells preferentially occurs at intrinsically curved regions from human LINE-1 repetitive element"Gene. 274. 271-281 (2001)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Publications] Masaru Miyano: "A common feature shared by bent DNA structures locating in the eukaryotic promoter region"Molecular Biology Reports. 28. 53-61 (2001)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Publications] Masaru Miyano: "Effect of upstream DNA architecture on transcription of a human LINE-1 retrotransposon sequence"Journal of Advanced Science. 13. 1-6 (2001)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Publications] Shigenobu Tone: "Contamination of Escherichia coli insertion element DNA sequences in human genome databases"Journal of Advanced Science. 13. 537-540 (2001)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Publications] Hideki Tagashira: "Electrophoretic mobility shit of restriction fragments caused by base pairing between overhangs"Biochemistry. 41. 12217-12223 (2002)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Publications] Munehiko Asayama: "The curved DNA structure in the 5'-upstream region of the light-responsive genes : its universality, binding factors and function for cyanobacterial psbA transcription"Nucleic Acids Research. 30. 4658-4666 (2002)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(和文)」より
  • [Publications] Ohyama, T: "Intrinsic DNA bends : an organizer of local chromatin structure for transcription."BioEssays. 23. 708-715 (2001)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
  • [Publications] Kusakabe, T., Sugimoto, Y., Maeda, T., Miyano, M., Nishikawa, J., Tone, S., Kawaguchi, Y., Koga, K. and Ohyama, T.: "Linearization and integration of DNA into cells preferentially occurs at intrinsically curved regions from human LINE-1 repetitive element."Gene. 274. 271-281 (2001)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
  • [Publications] Miyano, M., Kawashima, T. and Ohyama, T.: "A common feature shared by bent DNA structures locating in the eukaryotic promoter region."Mol. Biol. Rep.. 28. 53-61 (2001)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
  • [Publications] Miyano, M., Okabe, T., Kusakabe, T. and Ohyama, T.: "Effect of upstream DNA architecture on transcription of a human LINE-1 retrotransposon sequence."J. Adv. Sci.. 13. 1-6 (2001)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
  • [Publications] Tone, S., Hatada, S., Minatogawa, Y., Kurihara, K., Kohara, M., Kubo, T., Kawashima, T. and Ohyama, T.: "Contamination of Escherichia coli insertion element DNA sequences in human genome databases."J. Adv. Sci.. 13. 537-540 (2001)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
  • [Publications] Tagashira, H., Morita, M. and Ohyama, T.: "Electrophoretic mobility shift of restriction fragments caused by base pairing between overhangs."Biochemistry. 41. 12217-12223 (2002)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より
  • [Publications] Asayama, M., Kato, H., Shibata, J., Shirai, M. and Ohyama, T.: "The curved DNA structure in the 5'-upstream region of the light-responsive genes : its universality, binding factors and function for cyanobacterial psbA transcription."Nucl. Acids Res.. 30. 4658-4666 (2002)

    • Description
      「研究成果報告書概要(欧文)」より

URL: 

Published: 2004-04-14  

Information User Guide FAQ News Terms of Use Attribution of KAKENHI

Powered by NII kakenhi