scholarly journals CTD-dependent and - independent mechanisms govern co-transcriptional capping of Pol II transcripts

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Melvin Noe Gonzalez ◽  
Shigeo Sato ◽  
Chieri Tomomori-Sato ◽  
Joan W. Conaway ◽  
Ronald C. Conaway

AbstractCo-transcriptional capping of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) transcripts by capping enzyme proceeds orders of magnitude more efficiently than capping of free RNA. Previous studies brought to light a role for the phosphorylated Pol II CTD in activation of co-transcriptional capping; however, CTD phosphorylation alone could not account for the observed magnitude of activation. Here, we exploit a defined Pol II transcription system that supports both CTD phosphorylation and robust activation of capping to dissect the mechanism of co-transcriptional capping. Taken together, our findings identify a novel CTD-independent, but Pol II-mediated, mechanism that functions in parallel with CTD-dependent processes to ensure optimal capping, and they support a “tethering” model for the mechanism of activation.

2001 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-15 ◽  
Author(s):  
Seiji Yamamoto ◽  
Yoshinori Watanabe ◽  
Peter J. van der Spek ◽  
Tomomichi Watanabe ◽  
Hiroyuki Fujimoto ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The general transcription factor TFIIE plays important roles in transcription initiation and in the transition to elongation. However, little is known about its function during these steps. Here we demonstrate for the first time that TFIIH-mediated phosphorylation of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) is essential for the transition to elongation. This phosphorylation occurs at serine position 5 (Ser-5) of the carboxy-terminal domain (CTD) heptapeptide sequence of the largest subunit of Pol II. In a human in vitro transcription system with a supercoiled template, this process was studied using a human TFIIE (hTFIIE) homolog from Caenorhabditis elegans (ceTFIIEα and ceTFIIEβ). ceTFIIEβ could partially replace hTFIIEβ, whereas ceTFIIEα could not replace hTFIIEα. We present the studies of TFIIE binding to general transcription factors and the effects of subunit substitution on CTD phosphorylation. As a result, ceTFIIEα did not bind tightly to hTFIIEβ, and ceTFIIEβ showed a similar profile for binding to its human counterpart and supported an intermediate level of CTD phosphorylation. Using antibodies against phosphorylated serine at either Ser-2 or Ser-5 of the CTD, we found that ceTFIIEβ induced Ser-5 phosphorylation very little but induced Ser-2 phosphorylation normally, in contrast to wild-type hTFIIE, which induced phosphorylation at both Ser-2 and Ser-5. In transcription transition assays using a linear template, ceTFIIEβ was markedly defective in its ability to support the transition to elongation. These observations provide evidence of TFIIE involvement in the transition and suggest that Ser-5 phosphorylation is essential for Pol II to be in the processive elongation form.


2008 ◽  
Vol 28 (12) ◽  
pp. 3979-3994 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lu Gao ◽  
David S. Gross

ABSTRACT It is well accepted that for transcriptional silencing in budding yeast, the evolutionarily conserved lysine deacetylase Sir2, in concert with its partner proteins Sir3 and Sir4, establishes a chromatin structure that prevents RNA polymerase II (Pol II) transcription. However, the mechanism of repression remains controversial. Here, we show that the recruitment of Pol II, as well as that of the general initiation factors TBP and TFIIH, occurs unimpeded to the silent HMR a 1 and HMLα1/HMLα2 mating promoters. This, together with the fact that Pol II is Ser5 phosphorylated, implies that SIR-mediated silencing is permissive to both preinitiation complex (PIC) assembly and transcription initiation. In contrast, the occupancy of factors critical to both mRNA capping and Pol II elongation, including Cet1, Abd1, Spt5, Paf1C, and TFIIS, is virtually abolished. In agreement with this, efficiency of silencing correlates not with a restriction in Pol II promoter occupancy but with a restriction in capping enzyme recruitment. These observations pinpoint the transition between polymerase initiation and elongation as the step targeted by Sir2 and indicate that transcriptional silencing is achieved through the differential accessibility of initiation and capping/elongation factors to chromatin. We compare Sir2-mediated transcriptional silencing to a second repression mechanism, mediated by Tup1. In contrast to Sir2, Tup1 prevents TBP, Pol II, and TFIIH recruitment to the HMLα1 promoter, thereby abrogating PIC formation.


2004 ◽  
Vol 24 (20) ◽  
pp. 8963-8969 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gregory Bird ◽  
Diego A. R. Zorio ◽  
David L. Bentley

ABSTRACT We investigated the role of RNA polymerase II (pol II) carboxy-terminal domain (CTD) phosphorylation in pre-mRNA processing coupled and uncoupled from transcription in Xenopus oocytes. Inhibition of CTD phosphorylation by the kinase inhibitors 5,6-dichloro-1β-d-ribofuranosyl-benzimidazole and H8 blocked transcription-coupled splicing and poly(A) site cleavage. These experiments suggest that pol II CTD phosphorylation is required for efficient pre-mRNA splicing and 3′-end formation in vivo. In contrast, processing of injected pre-mRNA was unaffected by either kinase inhibitors or α-amanitin-induced depletion of pol II. pol II therefore does not appear to participate directly in posttranscriptional processing, at least in frog oocytes. Together these experiments show that the influence of the phosphorylated CTD on pre-mRNA splicing and 3′-end processing is mediated by transcriptional coupling.


2007 ◽  
Vol 27 (6) ◽  
pp. 2059-2073 ◽  
Author(s):  
Victoria H. Cowling ◽  
Michael D. Cole

ABSTRACT Myc is a transcription factor which is dependent on its DNA binding domain for transcriptional regulation of target genes. Here, we report the surprising finding that Myc mutants devoid of direct DNA binding activity and Myc target gene regulation can rescue a substantial fraction of the growth defect in myc −/− fibroblasts. Expression of the Myc transactivation domain alone induces a transcription-independent elevation of the RNA polymerase II (Pol II) C-terminal domain (CTD) kinases cyclin-dependent kinase 7 (CDK7) and CDK9 and a global increase in CTD phosphorylation. The Myc transactivation domain binds to the transcription initiation sites of these promoters and stimulates TFIIH binding in an MBII-dependent manner. Expression of the Myc transactivation domain increases CDK mRNA cap methylation, polysome loading, and the rate of translation. We find that some traditional Myc transcriptional target genes are also regulated by this Myc-driven translation mechanism. We propose that Myc transactivation domain-driven RNA Pol II CTD phosphorylation has broad effects on both transcription and mRNA metabolism.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. Boehning ◽  
C. Dugast-Darzacq ◽  
M. Rankovic ◽  
A. S. Hansen ◽  
T. Yu ◽  
...  

The carboxy-terminal domain (CTD) of RNA polymerase (Pol) II is an intrinsically disordered low-complexity region that is critical for pre-mRNA transcription and processing. The CTD consists of hepta-amino acid repeats varying in number from 52 in humans to 26 in yeast. Here we report that human and yeast CTDs undergo cooperative liquid phase separation at increasing protein concentration, with the shorter yeast CTD forming less stable droplets. In human cells, truncation of the CTD to the length of the yeast CTD decreases Pol II clustering and chromatin association whereas CTD extension has the opposite effect. CTD droplets can incorporate intact Pol II and are dissolved by CTD phosphorylation with the transcription initiation factor IIH kinase CDK7. Together with published data, our results suggest that Pol II forms clusters/hubs at active genes through interactions between CTDs and with activators, and that CTD phosphorylation liberates Pol II enzymes from hubs for promoter escape and transcription elongation.


2019 ◽  
Vol 47 (20) ◽  
pp. 10815-10829 ◽  
Author(s):  
Phuong Pham ◽  
Sohail Malik ◽  
Chiho Mak ◽  
Peter C Calabrese ◽  
Robert G Roeder ◽  
...  

Abstract Activation-induced deoxycytidine deaminase (AID) initiates somatic hypermutation (SHM) in immunoglobulin variable (IgV) genes to produce high-affinity antibodies. SHM requires IgV transcription by RNA polymerase II (Pol II). A eukaryotic transcription system including AID has not been reported previously. Here, we reconstitute AID-catalyzed deamination during Pol II transcription elongation in conjunction with DSIF transcription factor. C→T mutations occur at similar frequencies on non-transcribed strand (NTS) and transcribed strand (TS) DNA. In contrast, bacteriophage T7 Pol generates NTS mutations predominantly. AID-Pol II mutations are strongly favored in WRC and WGCW overlapping hot motifs (W = A or T, R = A or G) on both DNA strands. Single mutations occur on 70% of transcribed DNA clones. Mutations are correlated over a 15 nt distance in multiply mutated clones, suggesting that deaminations are catalyzed processively within a stalled or backtracked transcription bubble. Site-by-site comparisons for biochemical and human memory B-cell mutational spectra in an IGHV3-23*01 target show strongly favored deaminations occurring in the antigen-binding complementarity determining regions (CDR) compared to the framework regions (FW). By exhibiting consistency with B-cell SHM, our in vitro data suggest that biochemically defined reconstituted Pol II transcription systems can be used to investigate how, when and where AID is targeted.


2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Philipp E. Merkl ◽  
Michael Pilsl ◽  
Tobias Fremter ◽  
Gernot Längst ◽  
Philipp Milkereit ◽  
...  

AbstractEukaryotic RNA polymerases I and III (Pol I and III) consist of core subunits, which are conserved in RNA polymerase II (Pol II). Additionally, Pol I and III have specific subunits, associating with the so-called ‘lobe’ structure first described within Pol II. In Pol I of the yeast S. cerevisiae, these are Rpa34.5, and the N-terminal domains of Rpa49 and Rpa12.2, here referred to as the lobe-binding module (lb-module). We analyzed functions of the lb-module in a defined in vitro transcription system. Cooperation between lb-module components influenced transcription fidelity, elongation speed, and release of stalled Pol I complexes to continue elongation. Interestingly, lb-module containing Pol I and III, but not Pol II, were able to transcribe nucleosomal templates. Our data suggest, how the Pol I specific subunits may contribute to accurate and processive transcription of ribosomal RNA genes.


2014 ◽  
Vol 28 (12) ◽  
pp. 1323-1336 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. K. Doamekpor ◽  
A. M. Sanchez ◽  
B. Schwer ◽  
S. Shuman ◽  
C. D. Lima

2017 ◽  
Vol 37 (13) ◽  
Author(s):  
Rwik Sen ◽  
Amala Kaja ◽  
Jannatul Ferdoush ◽  
Shweta Lahudkar ◽  
Priyanka Barman ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT We have recently demonstrated that an mRNA capping enzyme, Cet1, impairs promoter-proximal accumulation/pausing of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) independently of its capping activity in Saccharomyces cerevisiae to control transcription. However, it is still unknown how Pol II pausing is regulated by Cet1. Here, we show that Cet1's N-terminal domain (NTD) promotes the recruitment of FACT (facilitates chromatin transcription that enhances the engagement of Pol II into transcriptional elongation) to the coding sequence of an active gene, ADH1, independently of mRNA-capping activity. Absence of Cet1's NTD decreases FACT targeting to ADH1 and consequently reduces the engagement of Pol II in transcriptional elongation, leading to promoter-proximal accumulation of Pol II. Similar results were also observed at other genes. Consistently, Cet1 interacts with FACT. Collectively, our results support the notion that Cet1's NTD promotes FACT targeting to the active gene independently of mRNA-capping activity in facilitating Pol II's engagement in transcriptional elongation, thus deciphering a novel regulatory pathway of gene expression.


2010 ◽  
Vol 30 (10) ◽  
pp. 2353-2364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Susanne Schneider ◽  
Yi Pei ◽  
Stewart Shuman ◽  
Beate Schwer

ABSTRACT An interaction network connecting mRNA capping enzymes, the RNA polymerase II (Pol II) carboxyl-terminal domain (CTD), elongation factor Spt5, and the Cdk7 and Cdk9 protein kinases is thought to comprise a transcription elongation checkpoint. A crux of this network is Spt5, which regulates early transcription elongation and has an imputed role in pre-mRNA processing via its physical association with capping enzymes. Schizosaccharomyces pombe Spt5 has a distinctive CTD composed of tandem nonapeptide repeats of the consensus sequence 1TPAWNSGSK9. The Spt5 CTD binds the capping enzymes and is a substrate for threonine phosphorylation by the Cdk9 kinase. Here we report that deletion of the S. pombe Spt5 CTD results in slow growth and aberrant cell morphology. The severity of the spt5-ΔCTD phenotype is exacerbated by truncation of the Pol II CTD and ameliorated by overexpression of the capping enzymes RNA triphosphatase and RNA guanylyltransferase. These results suggest that the Spt5 and Pol II CTDs play functionally overlapping roles in capping enzyme recruitment. We probed structure-activity relations of the Spt5 CTD by alanine scanning of the consensus nonapeptide. The T1A change abolished CTD phosphorylation by Cdk9 but did not affect CTD binding to the capping enzymes. The T1A and P2A mutations elicited cold-sensitive (cs) and temperature-sensitive (ts) growth defects and conferred sensitivity to growth inhibition by 6-azauracil that was exacerbated by partial truncations of the Pol II CTD. The T1A phenotypes were rescued by a phosphomimetic T1E change but not by capping enzyme overexpression. These results imply a positive role for Spt5 CTD phosphorylation in Pol Il transcription elongation in fission yeast, distinct from its capping enzyme interactions. Viability of yeast cells bearing both Spt5 CTD T1A and Pol II CTD S2A mutations heralds that the Cdk9 kinase has an essential target other than Spt5 and Pol II CTD-Ser2.


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