The YEATS family member GAS41 interacts with the general transcription factor TFIIF

In eukaryotes the transcription initiation by RNA polymerase II requires numerous general and regulatory factors including general transcription factors. The general transcription factor TFIIF controls the activity of the RNA polymerase II both at the initiation and elongation stages. The glioma amplified sequence 41 (GAS41) has been associated with TFIIF via its YEATS domain.

Using GST pull-down assays, we demonstrated that GAS41 binds to both, the small subunit (RAP30) and the large subunit (RAP74) of TFIIF in vitro. The in vivo interaction of GAS41 and endogenous RAP30 and RAP74 was confirmed by co-immunoprecipitation. GAS41 binds to two non-overlapping regions of the C-terminus of RAP30. There is also an ionic component to the binding between GAS41 and RAP30. There was no evidence for a direct interaction between GAS41 and TBP or between GAS41 and RNA polymerase II.

Our results demonstrate binding between endogenous GAS41 and the endogenous TFIIF subunits (RAP30 and RAP74). Since we did not find evidence for a binding of GAS41 to TBP or RNA polymerase II, GAS41 seems to preferentially bind to TFIIF. GAS41 that does not contain a DNA-binding domain appears to be a co-factor of TFIIF.