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Cdk-activating kinase complex is a component of human transcription factor TFIIH

Nature volume 374, pages 283–287 (1995)Cite this article

Abstract

TRANSCRIPTION factor IIH (TFIIH) contains a kinase capable of phosphorylating the carboxy-terminal domain (CTD) of the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II (RNAPII)1–3. Here we report the identification of the Cdk-activating kinase (Cak) complex (Cdk7 and cyclin H) as a component of TFIIH after extensive purification of TFIIH by chromatography. We find that affinity-purified antibodies directed against cyclin H inhibit TFIIH-dependent transcription and that both cyclin H and Cdk7 antibodies inhibit phosphorylation of the CTD of the largest subunit of the RNAPII in the preinitiation complex. Cak is present in at least two distinct complexes, TFIIH and a smaller complex that is unable to phosphorylate RNAPII in the preinitiation complex. Both Cak complexes, as well as recombinant Cak, phosphorylate a CTD peptide. Finally, TFIIH was shown to phosphorylate both Cdc2 and Cdk2, suggesting that there could be a link between transcription and the cell cycle machinery.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Department of Biochemistry, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, 675 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, New Jersey, 08854-5635, USA

    Ramin Shiekhattar, Fred Mermelstein, Ronny Drapkin & Danny Reinberg

  2. Department of Physiology, University of California, San Francisco, California, 94143-0444, USA

    Robert P. Fisher, Holly C. Wessling & David O. Morgan

  3. Laboratory of Molecular Oncology, The MGH Cancer Center, Building 149, 13th Street, Charlestown, Massachusetts, 02129, USA

    Brian Dynlacht

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  1. Ramin Shiekhattar
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  2. Fred Mermelstein
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Shiekhattar, R., Mermelstein, F., Fisher, R. et al. Cdk-activating kinase complex is a component of human transcription factor TFIIH. Nature 374, 283–287 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1038/374283a0

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