Live-cell analysis of endogenous GFP-RPB1 uncovers rapid turnover of initiating and promoter-paused RNA Polymerase II.
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Steurer B
PROVIDER: S-EPMC5948963 | biostudies-literature |
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Similar Datasets
Project description:Transcription initiation entails chromatin opening followed by pre-initiation complex formation and RNA polymerase II recruitment. Subsequent polymerase elongation requires additional signals, resulting in increased residence time downstream of the start site, a phenomenon referred to as pausing. Here, we harnessed single-molecule footprinting to quantify distinct steps of initiation in vivo throughout the Drosophila genome. This identifies the impact of promoter structure on initiation dynamics in relation to nucleosomal occupancy. Additionally, perturbation of transcriptional initiation reveals an unexpectedly high turnover of polymerases at paused promoters-an observation confirmed at the level of nascent RNAs. These observations argue that absence of elongation is largely caused by premature termination rather than by stable polymerase stalling. In support of this non-processive model, we observe that induction of the paused heat shock promoter depends on continuous initiation. Our study provides a framework to quantify protein binding at single-molecule resolution and refines concepts of transcriptional pausing.
| S-EPMC5548954 | biostudies-literature
Project description:RNAP II is frequently paused near gene promoters in mammals, and its transition to productive elongation requires active recruitment of P-TEFb, a cyclin-dependent kinase for RNAP II and other key transcription elongation factors. A fraction of P-TEFb is sequestered in an inhibitory complex containing the 7SK noncoding RNA, but it has been unclear how P-TEFb is switched from the 7SK complex to RNAP II during transcription activation. We report that SRSF2 (also known as SC35, an SR-splicing factor) is part of the 7SK complex assembled at gene promoters and plays a direct role in transcription pause release. We demonstrate RNA-dependent, coordinated release of SRSF2 and P-TEFb from the 7SK complex and transcription activation via SRSF2 binding to promoter-associated nascent RNA. These findings reveal an unanticipated SR protein function, a role for promoter-proximal nascent RNA in gene activation, and an analogous mechanism to HIV Tat/TAR for activating cellular genes.
| S-EPMC4103662 | biostudies-literature
Project description:The association of DSIF and NELF with initiated RNA Polymerase II (Pol II) is the general mechanism for inducing promoter-proximal pausing of Pol II. However, it remains largely unclear how the paused Pol II is released in response to stimulation. Here, we show that the release of the paused Pol II is cooperatively regulated by multiple P-TEFbs which are recruited by bromodomain-containing protein Brd4 and super elongation complex (SEC) via different recruitment mechanisms. Upon stimulation, Brd4 recruits P-TEFb to Spt5/DSIF via a recruitment pathway consisting of Med1, Med23 and Tat-SF1, whereas SEC recruits P-TEFb to NELF-A and NELF-E via Paf1c and Med26, respectively. P-TEFb-mediated phosphorylation of Spt5, NELF-A and NELF-E results in the dissociation of NELF from Pol II, thereby transiting transcription from pausing to elongation. Additionally, we demonstrate that P-TEFb-mediated Ser2 phosphorylation of Pol II is dispensable for pause release. Therefore, our studies reveal a co-regulatory mechanism of Brd4 and SEC in modulating the transcriptional pause release by recruiting multiple P-TEFbs via a Mediator- and Paf1c-coordinated recruitment network.
| S-EPMC5001612 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Paused RNA polymerase II (Pol II) that piles up near most human promoters is the target of mechanisms that control entry into productive elongation. Whether paused Pol II is a stable or dynamic target remains unresolved. We report that most 5' paused Pol II throughout the genome is turned over within 2 min. This process is revealed under hypertonic conditions that prevent Pol II recruitment to promoters. This turnover requires cell viability but is not prevented by inhibiting transcription elongation, suggesting that it is mediated at the level of termination. When initiation was prevented by triptolide during recovery from high salt, a novel preinitiated state of Pol II lacking the pausing factor Spt5 accumulated at transcription start sites. We propose that Pol II occupancy near 5' ends is governed by a cycle of ongoing assembly of preinitiated complexes that transition to pause sites followed by eviction from the DNA template. This model suggests that mechanisms regulating the transition to productive elongation at pause sites operate on a dynamic population of Pol II that is turning over at rates far higher than previously suspected. We suggest that a plausible alternative to elongation control via escape from a stable pause is by escape from premature termination.
| S-EPMC6120720 | biostudies-literature
Project description:Transcription initiation entails chromatin opening followed by pre-initiation complex formation and RNA Polymerase II recruitment. Subsequent polymerase elongation requires additional signals, resulting in increased residence time downstream of the start site, a phenomenon referred to as pausing. Here we harnessed single molecule footprinting to quantify distinct steps of initiation in vivo throughout the drosophila genome. This identifies the impact of promoter structure on initiation dynamics in relation to nucleosomal occupancy. Additionally, perturbation of transcriptional initiation reveals an unexpected high turnover of polymerases at paused promoters--an observation confirmed at the level of nascent RNAs. These observations argue that absence of elongation is largely caused by premature termination rather than stable polymerase stalling. In support of this non-processive model, we observe that induction of the paused heat-shock promoter depends on continuous initiation. Our study provides a framework to quantify protein binding at single molecule resolution and refines concepts of transcriptional pausing.
2017-06-23 | GSE77369 | GEO
Project description:Heat shock rapidly induces expression of a small set of genes while globally repressing transcription, making it an attractive system for studying alterations in the chromatin landscape that accompany changes in gene regulation. We have characterized these changes using low-salt extraction of intact micrococcal nuclease (MNase)-treated Drosophila S2 cell nuclei to determine the active nucleosomal and subnucleosomal chromatin landscapes. The low-salt-soluble fraction corresponds to classical "active" chromatin and includes distinct size fractions of MNase-protected particles that can be precisely mapped by paired-end sequencing. After heat shock, the distribution of low-salt-soluble nucleosomes showed an overall reduction over gene bodies, consistent with down-regulation of transcription. No global changes were detected in the subnucleosomal landscape upstream of transcriptional start sites, however, we observed a genome-wide reduction of paused RNA Polymerase II from the active chromatin fraction. Furthermore, nucleosome turnover decreased within gene bodies in a pattern similar to that observed when transcription elongation was artificially inhibited. These observations suggest that reduced Pol II affinity and processivity is the dominant nuclear mechanism for genome-wide repression during heat shock. Our ability to precisely map both nucleosomal and subnucleosomal particles directly from classical active chromatin extracts to assay changes in the chromatin landscape provides a simple general strategy for epigenome characterization. High-throughput sequencing (Illumina HiSeq 2000) We have characterized changes to the active nucleosomal and subnucleosomal landscape during the heat shock response in Drosophila cells by genome-wide profiling of low-salt extracted micrococcal nuclease-treated nuclei, paused RNA Polymerase II and CATCH-IT nucleosome turnover.
2011-11-15 | E-GEOD-30755 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:The cohesin complex mediates sister chromatid cohesion and regulates gene transcription. Prior studies show that cohesin preferentially binds and regulates genes that control growth and differentiation and that even mild disruption of cohesin function alters development. Here we investigate how cohesin specifically recognizes and regulates genes that control development in Drosophila.Genome-wide analyses show that cohesin selectively binds genes in which RNA polymerase II (Pol II) pauses just downstream of the transcription start site. These genes often have GAGA factor (GAF) binding sites 100 base pairs (bp) upstream of the start site, and GT dinucleotide repeats 50 to 800 bp downstream in the plus strand. They have low levels of histone H3 lysine 36 trimethylation (H3K36me3) associated with transcriptional elongation, even when highly transcribed. Cohesin depletion does not reduce polymerase pausing, in contrast to depletion of the NELF (negative elongation factor) pausing complex. Cohesin, NELF, and Spt5 pausing and elongation factor knockdown experiments indicate that cohesin does not inhibit binding of polymerase to promoters or physically block transcriptional elongation, but at genes that it strongly represses, it hinders transition of paused polymerase to elongation at a step distinct from those controlled by Spt5 and NELF.Our findings argue that cohesin and pausing factors are recruited independently to the same genes, perhaps by GAF and the GT repeats, and that their combined action determines the level of actively elongating RNA polymerase.
| S-EPMC3193539 | biostudies-literature
Project description:RNAP II is frequently paused near gene promoters in mammals and its transition to productive elongation requires active recruitment of P-TEFb, a cyclin-dependent kinase for RNAP II and other key transcription elongation factors. A fraction of P-TEFb is sequestered in an inhibitory complex containing the 7SK noncoding RNA, but it has been unclear how P-TEFb is switched from the 7SK complex to RNAP II during transcription activation. We report that SRSF2 (also known as SC35, an SR splicing factor) is part of the 7SK complex assembled at gene promoters and plays a direct role in transcription pause release. We demonstrate RNA-dependent, coordinated release of SRSF2 and P-TEFb from the 7SK complex and transcription activation via SRSF2 binding to promoter-associated nascent RNA. These findings reveal an unanticipated SR protein function, a role for promoter-proximal nascent RNA in gene activation, and an analogous mechanism to HIV Tat/TAR for activating cellular genes. SR ChIP-seq, Pol II ChIP-seq, and Gro-seq
2013-05-09 | E-GEOD-45517 | biostudies-arrayexpress
Project description:Heat shock rapidly induces expression of a small set of genes while globally repressing transcription, making it an attractive system for studying alterations in the chromatin landscape that accompany changes in gene regulation. We have characterized these changes using low-salt extraction of intact micrococcal nuclease (MNase)-treated Drosophila S2 cell nuclei to determine the active nucleosomal and subnucleosomal chromatin landscapes. The low-salt-soluble fraction corresponds to classical "active" chromatin and includes distinct size fractions of MNase-protected particles that can be precisely mapped by paired-end sequencing. After heat shock, the distribution of low-salt-soluble nucleosomes showed an overall reduction over gene bodies, consistent with down-regulation of transcription. No global changes were detected in the subnucleosomal landscape upstream of transcriptional start sites, however, we observed a genome-wide reduction of paused RNA Polymerase II from the active chromatin fraction. Furthermore, nucleosome turnover decreased within gene bodies in a pattern similar to that observed when transcription elongation was artificially inhibited. These observations suggest that reduced Pol II affinity and processivity is the dominant nuclear mechanism for genome-wide repression during heat shock. Our ability to precisely map both nucleosomal and subnucleosomal particles directly from classical active chromatin extracts to assay changes in the chromatin landscape provides a simple general strategy for epigenome characterization.
2011-11-15 | GSE30755 | GEO
Project description:Initiation is a highly regulated, rate-limiting step in transcription. We used a series of approaches to examine the kinetics of RNA polymerase (RNAP) transcription initiation in greater detail. Quenched kinetics assays, in combination with gel-based assays, showed that RNAP exit kinetics from complexes stalled at later stages of initiation (e.g., from a 7-base transcript) were markedly slower than from earlier stages (e.g., from a 2- or 4-base transcript). In addition, the RNAP-GreA endonuclease accelerated transcription kinetics from otherwise delayed initiation states. Further examination with magnetic tweezers transcription experiments showed that RNAP adopted a long-lived backtracked state during initiation and that the paused-backtracked initiation intermediate was populated abundantly at physiologically relevant nucleoside triphosphate (NTP) concentrations. The paused intermediate population was further increased when the NTP concentration was decreased and/or when an imbalance in NTP concentration was introduced (situations that mimic stress). Our results confirm the existence of a previously hypothesized paused and backtracked RNAP initiation intermediate and suggest it is biologically relevant; furthermore, such intermediates could be exploited for therapeutic purposes and may reflect a conserved state among paused, initiating eukaryotic RNA polymerase II enzymes.
| S-EPMC5087071 | biostudies-literature