Abstract
Sulfolobus solfataricus and Sulfolobus islandicus contain several genes exhibiting D-arabinose-inducible expression and these systems are ideal for studying mechanisms of archaeal gene expression. At sequence level, only two highly conserved cis elements are present on the promoters: a regulatory element named ara box directing arabinose-inducible expression and the basal promoter element TATA, serving as the binding site for the TATA-binding protein. Strikingly, these promoters possess a modular structure that allows an essentially inactive basal promoter to be strongly activated. The invoked mechanisms include TFB (transcription factor B) recruitment by the ara-box-binding factor to activate gene expression and modulation of TFB recruitment efficiency to yield differential gene expression.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Journal | Biochemical Society Transactions |
| Volume | 39 |
| Issue number | 1 |
| Pages (from-to) | 99-103 |
| Number of pages | 5 |
| ISSN | 0300-5127 |
| DOIs | |
| Publication status | Published - Feb 2011 |