Stowers Institute for Medical Research, Kansas City, Missouri, USA.
Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, University of Kansas Medical Center, Kansas City, Kansas, USA.
Nat Genet. 2017 Jul;49(7):1045-1051. doi: 10.1038/ng.3867. Epub 2017 May 15.
RNA polymerase II (Pol II) pauses downstream of the transcription initiation site before beginning productive elongation. This pause is a key component of metazoan gene expression regulation. Some promoters have a strong disposition for Pol II pausing and often mediate faster, more synchronous changes in expression. This requires multiple rounds of transcription and thus cannot rely solely on pause release. However, it is unclear how pausing affects the initiation of new transcripts during consecutive rounds of transcription. Using our recently developed ChIP-nexus method, we find that Pol II pausing inhibits new initiation. We propose that paused Pol II helps prevent new initiation between transcription bursts, which may reduce noise.
RNA 聚合酶 II（Pol II）在开始有效的延伸之前，在转录起始位点的下游暂停。这种暂停是真核生物基因表达调控的一个关键组成部分。一些启动子具有强烈的 Pol II 暂停倾向，通常介导更快、更同步的表达变化。这需要多轮转录，因此不能仅仅依靠暂停释放。然而，暂停如何影响连续转录轮次中新转录本的起始尚不清楚。使用我们最近开发的 ChIP-nexus 方法，我们发现 Pol II 暂停会抑制新的起始。我们提出，暂停的 Pol II 有助于防止在转录爆发之间进行新的起始，这可能会降低噪声。
