Unified crosstalk of signal transduction, chromatin regulation, and RNA processing by transcription complexes

The applicants characterized the functions of two general transcription factors, TFIIE and TFIIH, which assist Pol II for accurate transcription, and the multisubunit Mediator complex which transduces transcriptional activation signals to Pol II in the nucleus. As for Mediator, we demonstrated that two CDK subunits play a role as a molecular switch between positive and negative regulations in transcription, and we further elucidated the molecular mechenism of TFIIH regulation by TFIIE upon binding.