Isolation and characterization of a cDNA clone encoding the TATA box-binding protein (TFIID) from wheat.

We isolated a complementary DNA (cDNA) encoding the TATA-binding factor 'TFIID' from a wheat seedling cDNA library. The wheat TFIID transcript of 1.2 kb poly(A)+ RNA was expressed at a low level early in germination, but gradually increased as the seedlings developed. In vitro binding experiments showed that the bacterially expressed wheat TFIID protein could specifically bind to the TATA boxes of the cauliflower mosaic virus (CaMV) 35S, wheat histone H3 and adenovirus major late genes with different affinity. A comparison with Arabidopsis TFIID showed the presence of a plant-specific region consisting of 13 amino acids at the divergent amino terminus and a conserved region (182 amino acids) at the carboxy terminus longer than that observed in yeasts (180 amino acids) and animals (181 amino acids).