Int. J. Dev. Biol. 52: 371 - 375 (2008)

https://doi.org/10.1387/ijdb.072467tg

Vol 52, Issue 4

Concentrations of TATA box-binding protein (TBP)-type genes affect chordamesodermal gene expression

Short Communication | Published: 1 April 2008

Toshiyasu Goto^1,2, Ray Keller² and Makoto Asashima*^,1,3

¹ICORP Organ Regeneration Project, Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST), Tokyo, Japan, ²Department of Biology, Gilmer Hall, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Virginia, USA and ³Department of Life Sciences (Biology), Graduate School of Arts and Sciences, The University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan

Abstract

The TATA box-binding protein (TBP) is an essential component of transcription initiation complexes of all three eukaryotic RNA polymerases. Recent knockdown studies revealed that basic transcription factors are essential not only for gene transcription but also for regulating specific gene expression. However, the mechanism of and the effect by regulation of TBP expression are unknown during early embryogenesis. Here we show that the alteration of concentration of each TBP-type gene affected mutually one another's expression, suggesting that an optimal ratio of concentrations of TBP-type genes induce expression of specific genes.

Keywords

TBP, TBP2, TLF, gene expression, Xenopus laevis