Inhibition of in vivo and in vitro transcription by monoclonal antibodies prepared against wheat germ RNA polymerase II that react with the heptapeptide repeat of eukaryotic RNA polymerase II.

Wheat germ RNA polymerase II was used to raise monoclonal antibodies (mAbs) that cross-react with the largest subunit of calf thymus RNA polymerase II. Most of these mAbs were of the IgM isotype and were shown to react with a synthetic peptide containing the consensus sequence for the C-terminal heptapeptide repeat that has been found on the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II from a variety of eukaryotic organisms. A representative mAb (3WG2) was tested for its effect on transcription in both in vitro and in vivo systems. Antibody 3WG2 did not affect the transcription (elongation) of wheat germ RNA polymerase II on denatured calf thymus DNA. When HeLa cell nuclear extracts were preincubated with the mAb, run-off transcription from a promoter that contains a TATA box (the adenovirus-2 major late promoter) and from a promoter that does not contain a TATA box (the murine dihydrofolate reductase gene promoter = dhfr) was inhibited. Transcription from these promoters was also inhibited by the synthetic peptide containing the consensus sequence when it was conjugated to bovine serum albumin. HeLa cell nuclear extract in which the endogenous RNA polymerase II had been inhibited by the specific mAb was used to examine the ability of added mammalian RNA polymerase II that lacks the C-terminal domain to accurately transcribe specific genes. When calf thymus RNA polymerase II that lacked the C-terminal domain was added back to the inhibited extract, a discrete transcript that was initiated correctly was obtained with the adenovirus-2 major late promoter; however, no discrete transcript was observed from the mouse dhfr gene promoter. When injected into Xenopus laevis oocytes, antibody 3WG2 inhibited transcription of the human histone H2b gene (contains a TATA box) and the human U1 small nuclear RNA gene (does not contain a TATA box), but did not inhibit transcription from RNA polymerase I or RNA polymerase III promoters. These results indicate that the C-terminal heptapeptide repeat plays a critical role in promoter-directed transcription, although enzyme that lacks this domain can initiate from some promoters in vitro.