RNA Polymerase II Elongation Control (original) (raw)

1. J. PENG,
2. M. LIU,
3. J. MARION,
4. Y. ZHU, and
5. D.H. PRICE
6. Department of Biochemistry, University of Iowa, Iowa City, Iowa 52242

Excerpt

The expression of many eukaryotic genes is controlledin part at the level of transcription elongation (for review,see Bentley 1995; Shilatifard 1998; Yamaguchi et al.1997). On the basis of results obtained from a Drosophilain vitro transcription system, a model (Fig. 1) for the general control of elongation was described (Kephart et al.1992; Marshall and Price 1992) that was consistent withdata obtained in vitro and in vivo from many studies. According to the model, all RNA polymerase II (pol II)molecules that initiate from a promoter enter abortiveelongation and are destined to produce only short transcripts due to the action of negative transcription elongation factors (N-TEF). Escape from this negative control isaccomplished through the action of positive transcriptionelongation factors (P-TEF) that allow productive elongation. Similar to antitermination mechanisms described inprokaryotes (Greenblatt et al. 1993; Roberts 1993), control of the elongation phase of transcription by pol II is accomplished by the regulated elimination of early transcriptional blocks...