Department of Molecular and Cell Biology, Institute of Systems Genomics, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut 06269, USA.
Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Blavatnik Institute, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Genes Dev. 2019 Aug 1;33(15-16):960-982. doi: 10.1101/gad.325142.119. Epub 2019 May 23.
Precise spatio-temporal control of gene activity is essential for organismal development, growth, and survival in a changing environment. Decisive steps in gene regulation involve the pausing of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) in early elongation, and the controlled release of paused polymerase into productive RNA synthesis. Here we describe the factors that enable pausing and the events that trigger Pol II release into the gene. We also discuss open questions in the field concerning the stability of paused Pol II, nucleosomes as obstacles to elongation, and potential roles of pausing in defining the precision and dynamics of gene expression.
精确的时空基因活性调控对于生物体在不断变化的环境中的发育、生长和生存至关重要。基因调控的决定性步骤涉及 RNA 聚合酶 II（Pol II）在早期延伸过程中的暂停，以及暂停的聚合酶被控制释放到有产物的 RNA 合成中。在这里，我们描述了使 Pol II 暂停的因素和触发 Pol II 释放到基因中的事件。我们还讨论了该领域中关于暂停的 Pol II 的稳定性、核小体作为延伸障碍，以及暂停在确定基因表达的精度和动态方面的潜在作用等悬而未决的问题。
