Direct binding of TFEα opens DNA binding cleft of RNA polymerase

Abstract

How clamp conformation is regulated in the transcription cycle of stalk-containing archaeal and eukaryotic RNA polymerase (RNAP) systems is still not well understood. Here, the authors combine cryo-EM, X-ray crystallography and photo-crosslinking assays to structurally characterise RNAP, the RNAP-TFEα binary and RNAP-TFEα-promoter DNA ternary complexes from the archaea Thermococcus kodakarensis and enables them to describe the dynamic conformational changes of the general transcription factor TFEα and RNAP during the early stage of transcription cycle.