Tyrosine phosphorylation of RNA Polymerase II CTD is associated with antisense promoter transcription and active enhancers in mammalian cells
- Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille Luminy, Université Aix-Marseille, France
- Helmholtz Center Munich, Center of Integrated Protein Science Munich (CIPSM), Germany
- Centre d'Immunologie de Marseille-Luminy, Université Aix-Marseille, France
- Institut de Génétique Moléculaire de Montpellier (IGMM), CNRS-UMR, France
- Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Germany
- Institut de Génomique Fonctionnelle, France
- Centre Nacional D'Anàlisi Genòmica, Spain
- Insitut de Génétique Moléculaire de Montpellier (IGMM), CNRS-UMR, France
Abstract
In mammals, the carboxy-terminal domain (CTD) of RNA polymerase (Pol) II consists of 52 conserved heptapeptide repeats containing the consensus sequence Tyr1-Ser2-Pro3-Thr4-Ser5-Pro6-Ser7. Post-translational modifications of the CTD coordinate the transcription cycle and various steps of mRNA maturation. Here we describe Tyr1 phosphorylation (Tyr1P) as a hallmark of promoter (5' associated) Pol II in mammalian cells, in contrast to what was described in yeast. Tyr1P is predominantly found in antisense orientation at promoters but is also specifically enriched at active enhancers. Mutation of Tyr1 to phenylalanine (Y1F) prevents the formation of the hyper-phosphorylated Pol IIO form, induces degradation of Pol II to the truncated Pol IIB form and results in a lethal phenotype. Our results suggest that Tyr1P has evolved specialized and essential functions in higher eukaryotes associated with antisense promoter and enhancer transcription, and Pol II stability.
Article and author information
Author details
Reviewing Editor
- Danny Reinberg, HHMI / NYU School of Medicine, United States
Version history
- Received: December 17, 2013
- Accepted: May 8, 2014
- Accepted Manuscript published: May 9, 2014 (version 1)
- Version of Record published: June 3, 2014 (version 2)
Copyright
© 2014, Descostes et al.
This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.
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Tyrosine phosphorylation of RNA Polymerase II CTD is associated with antisense promoter transcription and active enhancers in mammalian cells
eLife 3:e02105.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.02105
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