Abstract

The largest and the second-largest subunit of the multisubunit eukaryotic RNA polymerases are involved in interaction with the DNA template and the nascent RNA chain. Using Southwestern DNA-binding techniques and nitrocellulose filter binding assays of bacterially expressed fusion proteins, we have identified a region of the largest, 215-kDa, subunit of Drosophila RNA polymerase II that has the potential to bind nucleic acids nonspecifically. This nucleic acid-binding region is located between amino acid residues 309-384 and is highly conserved within the largest subunits of eukaryotic and bacterial RNA polymerases. A homology to a region of the DNA-binding cleft of Escherichia coli DNA polymerase I involved in binding of the newly synthesized DNA duplex provides indirect evidence that the nucleic acid-binding region of the largest subunit participates in interaction with double-stranded nucleic acids during transcription. The nonspecific DNA-binding behavior of the region is similar to that observed for the native enzyme in nitrocellulose filter binding assays and that of the separated largest subunit in Southwestern assays. A high content of basic amino acid residues is consistent with the electrostatic nature of nonspecific DNA binding by RNA polymerases.