Purification of transcription termination factor Rho from Escherichia coli and Micrococcus luteus.
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Chromatography, Affinity↗
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Physical properties of the Escherichia coli transcription termination factor rho. 1. Association states and geometry of the rho hexamer.
To function as a DNA-RNA helicase in rho-dependent transcript termination, six genetically identical subunits of the Escherichia coli transcription termination protein rho must first assemble into a hexameric complex. To help determine the quaternary structure of this complex, we have studied the association equilibria of the rho protomers. Sedimentation equilibrium, sedimentation velocity, diffusion, X-ray scattering, and neutron-scattering data have been combined to create a "phase diagram" of the association states of this protein as a function of protein concentration and ionic environment. The results show that rho exists predominantly as a hexamer under approximately physiological conditions and that this hexamer is in equilibrium with both lower and higher states of association that may also have physiological relevance. Small-angle X-ray scattering measurements and theoretical calculations indicate that the rho hexamer has a radius of gyration of 50 +/- 3 A. The radius of gyration measured by small-angle neutron scattering in 2H2O is 47 +/- 3 A. These scattering studies also support earlier models of rho as a planar hexagon which have been developed on the basis of electron microscopy. In the following paper in this issue [Geiselmann, J., Seifried, S. E., Yager, T. D., Liang, C., & von Hippel, P. H. (1992)], these results are combined with information on symmetry, subunit interactions, and packing geometry to obtain a model of the quaternary structure of the functional rho hexamer.
DNA↗
Thermodynamic and enzymological characterization of the interaction between transcription termination factor rho and lambda cro mRNA.
Termination of transcription at tR1, the rho-dependent terminator between genes cro and cII of bacteriophage lambda, is mediated by interactions between rho protein and an RNA sequence element called rut. We show, using a filter retention assay technique, that rho protein binds with about 10-fold lower affinity to variants of cro RNA lacking both parts of rut or to normal cro RNA having one or the other part of rut bound to a complementary DNA oligonucleotide than it binds to unmodified cro RNA. These same variant and modified forms are nearly devoid of the strong rho ATPase cofactor activity of cro RNA. Estimates of binding energies of the rho-cro RNA interaction under different conditions reveal that termination function correlates with about 12.6 kcal of binding energy, of which two-thirds is due to nonelectrostatic interactions. The rut segment is shown to contribute about 1 kcal, nearly all to nonelectrostatic interactions. KCl is found to be more effective than potassium glutamate as a competitive counterion, and a decrease in 1.4 kcal of binding energy due to counterion competition correlates with a loss of termination and ATPase activities. In sum, the results indicate that the rut sequence contributes substantially to the overall binding affinity, that ionic interactions are also important, and that mere binding of rho to RNA is not sufficient for rho ATPase activation.
Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
Maximizing gene expression from plasmid vectors containing the lambda PL promoter: strategies for overproducing transcription termination factor rho.
We have constructed two plasmids in which transcription of the rho gene from Escherichia coli K-12 is under the control of the lambda phage PL promoter. In p31-356, the normal rho promoter is deleted, but the remainder of the rho leader region, including the ribosome binding site, is present. In p39-AS, the rho leader is completely absent, and the lambda cII ribosome binding site replaces that of rho. Under noninducing conditions, expression of rho protein from these plasmids is repressed by the lambda cI protein in hosts carrying lambda cryptic prophage. Induction using mitomycin C or nalidixic acid in a cryptic lysogen carrying the cI+ repressor resulted in the overproduction of rho protein to levels of 3%-5% of the total cellular protein with p31-356, and to levels of approximately equal to 40% with p39-AS. The overproduced protein is functionally indistinguishable from the rho protein isolated from the K-12 strain W3110, and it can be obtained from cells harboring p39-AS in yields of up to 25 mg of rho per g of cells. In contrast to chemical induction, heat induction in four cryptic lambda lysogens carrying the thermolabile cI857 repressor failed to yield the same high levels of rho protein (with either plasmid). Our results show that chemical induction of PL-containing plasmid expression vectors can serve as a convenient and useful alternative to the commonly used method of heat induction.
Bacteriophage lambda↗
Structural organization of transcription termination factor Rho.
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Adenosine Triphosphate↗
The antibiotic bicyclomycin affects the secondary RNA binding site of Escherichia coli transcription termination factor Rho.
The interaction of Rho and the antibiotic bicyclomycin was probed using in vitro transcription termination reactions, poly(C) binding assays, limited tryptic digestions, and the bicyclomycin inhibition kinetics of ATPase activity in the presence of poly(dC) and ribo(C)10. The approximate I50 value for the bicyclomycin inhibition of transcription termination at Rho-dependent sites within a modified trp operon template was 5 microM. At antibiotic concentrations near the I50 value, bicyclomycin inhibition of Rho-dependent transcripts was accompanied by the appearance of a new set of transcripts whose size was midway between the Rho-dependent transcripts and the readthrough transcripts. Bicyclomycin did not inhibit poly(C) binding to Rho. In the presence of poly(dC), bicyclomycin showed a reversible mixed inhibition of the ribo(C)10-stimulated ATPase activity. The extrapolated Ki for bicyclomycin was 2.8 microM without ribo(C)10 and increased to 26 microM in the presence of ribo(C)10. Correspondingly, the Km(app) for ribo(C)10 without bicyclomycin was 0.8 microM and with bicyclomycin was 5 microM at infinite inhibitor concentration. The data suggested that the antibiotic binds to Rho, influencing the secondary RNA binding (tracking) site on Rho and slows the tracking of Rho toward the bound RNA polymerase.
Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
Nucleotide binding induces conformational changes in Escherichia coli transcription termination factor Rho.
The Escherichia coli Rho protein uses the energy of ATP binding and hydrolysis to translocate along RNA and cause transcription termination. Using fluorescence stopped-flow kinetic studies, we have discerned the conformational changes in the Rho protein that occur upon nucleotide and nucleic acid binding. We show that the 2', (3')-O-[N-methylanthraniloyl] derivative of ATP (mant-ATP) is a good fluorescent substrate of Rho and is hydrolyzed with a K(m) comparable with that for ATP but a k(cat) five to six times slower than that for ATP. The kinetics of ATP and mant-ATP binding indicates that, in the absence of RNA, the Rho protein is structurally distinct from the Rho hexamer found when bound to RNA or DNA. In the absence of RNA, the nucleotide-binding rates are 50- to 70-fold slower, and the dissociation rates are 40- to 120-fold slower than the corresponding rates in the presence of RNA. We conclude that RNA or DNA binding to the primary nucleic acid binding sites causes conformational changes in the Rho hexamer that result in the opening of the subunit interfaces. Furthermore, the kinetic studies revealed a unique protein conformational change in the Rho.RNA complex upon ATP binding that is a result of RNA contacting the secondary nucleic acid binding sites in the central channel of the Rho ring. This conformational change seems to render the Rho ring competent in ATP hydrolysis and translocation.
Adenosine Triphosphate↗
Autogenous regulation of the gene for transcription termination factor rho in Escherichia coli: localization and function of its attenuators.
We present evidence that the expression of rho is regulated by rho-dependent attenuation of transcription. Gene fusion analysis with nested series of deletions of rho indicated that the transcription of rho is attenuated in a rho-dependent manner in the leader region and that neither a read-through transcription from the upstream gene, trxA, nor a modulation of transcription initiation of the rho promoter is involved in the self-control of rho. S1 mapping and Northern hybridization analyses localized at least six transcription attenuation or termination sites in the region ranging from the 3' end of the trxA structural gene to the middle of the rho structural gene. Among them, the most upstream site overlapping the rho promoter sequence was assigned to the terminator for the trxA gene, and the second and third sites, mapping about 80 and 50 nucleotides upstream from the start codon of rho, were suggested to function as the major attenuation sites for regulation of the rho expression. Further, the start points of the trxA and rho RNAs were determined in an in vitro transcription system to be located 111 nucleotides (U) and 255 nucleotides (G) upstream from their respective start codons. These results necessitate revisions of previous predictions on the sites of transcriptional signals in the trxA and rho genes (S. Brown, B. Albrechtsen, S. Pedersen, and P. Klemm, J. Mol. Biol. 162:283-298, 1982; C.-J. Lim, D. Geraghty, and J. A. Fuchs, J. Bacteriol. 163:311-316, 1985; B.J. Wallace and S.R. Kushner, Gene 32:399-408, 1984).
Chromosome Deletion↗
The transcription termination factor Rho is essential and autoregulated in Caulobacter crescentus.
The impossibility of obtaining a rho null mutant and sensitivity to bicyclomycin have indicated that rho is essential for the viability of Caulobacter crescentus. Transcription gene fusions of sequences with serial deletions of the rho 5' untranslated region (5'-UTR) with a lacZ reporter gene indicated that rho is autoregulated at the level of attenuation of transcription in the 5'-UTR.
Amino Acid Sequence↗
[Immunization to factor Rho (Du) established in pregnancy].
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Erythroblastosis, Fetal↗
Free RNA-dependent ATPase activity of transcription termination factor Rho: a model of cyclic dissociation and reassembly of Rho protein.
RNA-dependent ATPase activity of Rho + and two mutant proteins Rho15 and Rho301 was studied. It was shown that monomeric Rho forms oligomers in the presence of ATP. This ATP-induced structural change of Rho allows protection of the protein from heat inactivation. Poly(C), which highly activates Rho ATPase, was found to potentiate heat inactivation of Rho301, but no Rho + and Rho15, only under optimal conditions of ATP hydrolysis. It was also shown that Rho301 is defective in interaction with RNA. The molecular model postulating that Rho-catalysed ATP hydrolysis with free RNA involves the cyclic process of protein dissociation and reassembly is postulated.
Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
[Effect of the ts 15 mutation of transcription termination factor rho on expression of the uridine phosphorylase gene of Escherichia coli].
The expression of nucleoside-catabolizing genes was studied in two isogenic strains, SA1030(rho+) and AD1600(rho ts 15). The deo-enzymes activities do not differ markedly in these two strains, though when cells were grown on glycerol medium the deo-enzymes level appeared to be higher than on glucose medium. The synthesis of uridine phosphorylase in AD1600 strain was found to be constitutive. It was found also that the cytR regulation system was not altered in AD1600 strain and a wild-type allele of udp gene was present in the genome of AD1600 strain. A conclusion is made that constitutive synthesis of uridine phosphorylase is due to the presence of rho ts 15 mutation in the genome of the strain AD1600.
Escherichia coli↗
Escherichia coli transcription termination factor rho. I. ATPase activation by oligonucleotide cofactors.
Rho protein is required to bring about RNA release from Escherichia coli transcription complexes paused at specific (rho-dependent) termination sites. Rho functions in termination as a hexamer of identical subunits arranged in D3 symmetry, with each rho subunit carrying an RNA- and an ATP-binding site. The detailed mechanism of rho-catalyzed transcript release remains to be determined, but it is clear that the RNA-dependent ATPase activity that is stimulated by interaction with the nascent transcript is essential to the termination function of rho. In this study, we have used short (8-10 nucleotide residues) synthetic ribo-oligonucleotides to model the interaction of segments of the RNA cofactor with rho. A poly(dC) enhancement procedure was used to permit the measurement of steady state ATPase parameters. We show that (i) ATPase activation is cofactor composition- and sequence-dependent; (ii) at least 60% of the residues of these short RNA cofactors must be cytosine to produce maximal rho ATPase activation; (iii) oligo(rU,rC) cofactors with the rU residues located at the 5' termini of the oligomer are much better ATPase cofactors than oligomers containing rC residues only; (iv) this enhanced stimulation is not observed if the rU residues are replaced by rA residues; (v) this cofactor activity relative to oligo(rC) is reversed if the rU residues are placed at the 3' terminus of RNA oligomer; and (vi) these nucleotide sequence and composition effects do not appear to be functions of K+ or Mg2+ concentration. These ATPase activation results are correlated with the binding to rho of oligonucleotide cofactors in the accompanying paper (Wang, Y., and von Hippel, P. H. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 13947-13955).
Adenosine Triphosphatases↗
Escherichia coli transcription termination factor rho. II. Binding of oligonucleotide cofactors.
The relative binding affinities for rho of the oligonucleotide rho ATPase cofactors studied in the accompanying paper (Wang, Y., and von Hippel, P. H. (1993) J. Biol. Chem. 268, 13940-13946) have been determined by gel mobility shift and ultrafiltration binding analyses. We find that each rho hexamer carries three strong and three weak RNA-binding sites that differ approximately 10-fold in their affinities for oligonucleotide cofactors. Furthermore, in contrast to the sequence dependence of ATPase activation, we find that the binding affinities of these oligonucleotide cofactors for rho depend only on their cytosine content. In addition, we show that changes in the positions of rU residues in the oligo(rU,rC) cofactors (which significantly modulate the ATPase activity of rho) have no effect on binding affinities and that the addition of ATP, ADP, or the nonhydrolyzable ATP analog adenosine 5'-(beta,gamma-methylene)triphosphate also does not change the binding affinities of the oligonucleotide cofactors for rho. Considered in the context of the coupling of the rho ATPase and RNA binding and release cycles, these results suggest that rC residues are required for the formation of stable rho-RNA complexes, whereas rU residues at the 5' termini of cofactors bound to rho initiate or facilitate the release of the RNA from the individual cofactor site as a consequence of ATP hydrolysis. Thus, both the tightness of the binding of RNA segments to the individual RNA-binding sites of rho and the rate of release of these segments from these sites are critical in controlling the ATPase rate of rho and probably also in modulating the function of this protein in transcript termination.
Base Sequence↗
The role of termination factor rho in the development of bacteriophage T4 [proceedings].
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Coliphages↗
Structure and assembly of the Escherichia coli transcription termination factor rho and its interactions with RNA. II. Physical chemical studies.
Transcription termination factor rho from Escherichia coli is comprised of a hexamer of identical protein monomers. Hydrodynamic and light-scattering studies have shown the fully assembled rho to be a doughnut-shaped structure. Semi-denaturing gels, protein crosslinking, and spectroscopic studies, as well as other functional and binding determinations have established that the rho hexamer displays D3 symmetry (i.e. it exists as a trimer of dimers). In the accompanying paper we visualize rho directly in the absence of cofactor and show that binding of RNA it into the hexameric form. In this paper we examine the pathway and association constants involved in rho oligomer assembly. Sedimentation and fluorescence-detected size exclusion chromatography are used to demonstrate three steps in the assembly process. These steps can be differentiated by subunit association affinity and kinetic properties. The kinetics of the monomer-dimer equilibrium are fast and an apparent association constant of 1.3 x 10(6) M-1 is measured for this process. In contrast, the dimer-tetramer and tetramer-hexamer association processes appear to be slower (of the order of seconds) and to involve association constants that are smaller than that of the monomer-dimer reaction. This behaviour is consistent with a hexamer of D3 symmetry. Such a particle displays two kinds of subunit interactions; one associated with an intra-dimer A:A interface and the other with an inter-dimer B:B interface. The closure of the circular hexamer does not appear to contribute additional free energy to the assembly process. Fluorescence and sedimentation studies show the association steps to be sensitive to salt concentration. Consistent with earlier work, we find that assembly to the hexameric state is driven by RNA binding.
Centrifugation, Density Gradient↗
Influence of substrate composition on the helicase activity of transcription termination factor Rho: reduced processivity of Rho hexamers during unwinding of RNA-DNA hybrid regions.
Transcription termination factor Rho forms ring-shaped hexameric structures that load onto segments of the nascent RNA transcript that are C-rich and mostly single-stranded. This interaction converts Rho hexamers into active molecular motors that use the energy resulting from their ATP hydrolase activity to move towards the transcript 3'-end. Upon translocation along the RNA chain, Rho can displace physical roadblocks, such as those formed by RNA-DNA helices, a feature that is likely central to the transcription termination mechanism. To study this "translocase" (helicase) activity, we have designed a collection of Rho substrate chimeras containing an RNA-DNA helix located at various positions with respect to a short (47 nucleotides) artificial loading site. We show that these synthetic constructs represent interesting model substrates able to engage in a productive interaction with Rho and to direct NTP-dependent [5'-->3']-translocation of the hexamers. Using both single and multiple-cycle experimental set-ups, we have also found that Rho helicase activity is strongly dependent on the substrate composition and reaction conditions. For this reason, the rate-limiting step of the helicase reaction could not be identified unambiguously. Yet, the linear dependence of the reaction rate on the hybrid length suggests that helicase action on the RNA-DNA region could be controlled by a unique slow step such as Rho activation, conformational rearrangement, or DNA release. Moreover, removal of the DNA strand occurred at a significant cost for the Rho enzyme, inducing, on average, dissociation from the substrate for every 60-80 base-pairs of hybrid unwound. These results are discussed in relation to the known requirements for Rho substrates, general features of hexameric helicases, and current models for Rho-dependent transcription termination.
Adenosine Triphosphate↗
Transcription termination factor rho has three distinct structural domains.
The domain structure of transcription termination factor rho was analyzed by partial trypsin cleavage and by photoaffinity labeling with ATP and oligo(C)5. A rho subunit consists of three distinct domains of nearly equal size that are connected by trypsin-sensitive linker segments. The amino-terminal domain binds to oligo(C)5 and has sequence segments with extended similarity to conserved elements in other RNA-binding proteins and a segment that has identities with another known cytidine nucleotide-binding protein. The middle domain has the ATP-binding site and has most of the sequence segments with similarity to conserved elements in other nucleoside triphosphate-binding proteins. The function of the third domain, the carboxyl-terminal domain, has not been identified. Both the amino- and carboxyl-terminal domains are relatively resistant to further trypsin treatment. The ATP-binding domain is also relatively resistant when it is linked to the amino-terminal, RNA-binding domain, but has not been detected as a separate digestion product. This result plus the finding that ADP and ATP inhibit the cleavage in the linker between the two domains indicate that those domains interact intimately in spite of their functional distinctions.
Adenosine Diphosphate↗