The general transcription factor TFIID is known to bind to the TATA element of RNA
polymerase II promotets, and this binding is the first step in the formation of an active
transcription complex (containing TFIIA, TFIIB, TFIIE and polll). Starting with the amino-
temlinal sequence of TFIID, Hahn el al. used degenerate primers and the polymerase chain
reaction to amplify a fragment of genomic DNA encoding part of TFIID, which was then used
to generate a probe for screening a yeast genomic library, The protein finally cloned has no …

We report the cloning of the gene that encodes the yeast TATA binding protein TFIID. TFIID
contains 240 amino acids and has no obvious sequence similarity to other known proteins.
TFIID was synthesized in vitro and in two separate assays behaved Identically to the protein
purified from yeast. TFIID bound to TATA elements from the adenovirus major late promoter
(TATAAAA) and the yeast LEU2 promoter (TATTTAA) and formed protein-DNA complexes
stable to electrophoresis only in the presence of TFIIA. In vitro-synthesized yeast TFIID also …