Author : Meredith Leigh Stevens
Release : 1999
Genre :
Kind : eBook
Book Rating : /5 ( reviews)
Book Synopsis Global Repression of Non-heat Shock Gene Transcription by Activation of Heat Shock Factor in Drosophila by : Meredith Leigh Stevens
Download or read book Global Repression of Non-heat Shock Gene Transcription by Activation of Heat Shock Factor in Drosophila written by Meredith Leigh Stevens. This book was released on 1999. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Cells respond to stress by activation of the heat shock (hs) response, regulated by the hs transcription factor, HSF. In 'Drosophila' hs results in HSF binding at over 200 loci on polytene chromosomes, concomitant with transcriptional repression at non-hs gene sites. We suggest that HSF binding causes the preferential recruitment of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) to the hs genes, resulting in the repressed transcription of non-hs genes. To exclude the possibility that non-hs gene repression was due to effects of heat, the proline amino acid analogue azetidine-2-carboxylic acid (AzC) was used to induce the 'Drosophila' hs response. At normal temperatures AzC elicits HSF binding and hs gene transcription in a manner similar to heat but on a longer time scale. AzC also results in repression of non-hs gene transcription, indicating that it is the activation of HSF DNA-binding which leads to Pol II recruitment and subsequent global transcriptional repression.