A novel yeast protein influencing the response of RNA polymerase II to transcriptional activators

A sensitive in vitro crosslinking technique using a photoactive derivative of the chimeric activator LexA-E2F-1 was used to identify yeast proteins that might influence the response of RNA polymerase II to transcriptional activators. We found that a novel yeast protein, Xtc1p, could be covalently crosslinked to the activation domain of LexA-E2F-1 when this derivatized activator was bound to DNA upstream of an activator-responsive RNA polymerase II promoter. Because affinity chromatography experiments showed that Xtc1p also bound directly and specifically to the activation domains of E2F-1, the viral activator VP16, and the yeast activator Gal4p and copurified with the RNA polymerase II holoenzyme complex, Xtc1p may modulate the response of RNA polymerase II to multiple activators. Consistent with this notion, yeast strains deleted for the XTC1 gene exhibited pleiotropic growth defects, including temperature sensitivity, galactose auxotrophy, and a heightened sensitivity to activator overexpression, as well as an altered response to transcriptional activators in vivo.