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A pause site for RNA polymerase II is associated with termination of transcription.
Author(s) -
EnriquezHarris P.,
Levitt N.,
Briggs D.,
Proudfoot N.J.
Publication year - 1991
Publication title -
the embo journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 7.484
H-Index - 392
eISSN - 1460-2075
pISSN - 0261-4189
DOI - 10.1002/j.1460-2075.1991.tb07709.x
Subject(s) - transcription (linguistics) , library science , classics , sociology , philosophy , history , computer science , linguistics
Termination of transcription by RNA polymerase II has been postulated to involve a pausing process. We have identified such a pause signal, 350 bp into the 3′ flanking region of the human alpha 2 globin gene at a position where termination is thought to occur. We show that this pause signal enhances the utilization of an upstream poly(A) site which is otherwise out‐competed by a stronger downstream poly(A) site. We also demonstrate that the pause site rescues a poly(A) site that is inactive due to its location within an intron. Using nuclear run‐on analysis we show that elongating RNA polymerase II molecules accumulate over this pause signal. Furthermore we show that when the pause site is positioned immediately downstream of a strong poly(A) signal, significant levels of transcription termination take place.