No abstract

Summary Most human genes are loaded with promoter proximally paused RNA polymerase II (Pol II) molecules that are poised for release into productive elongation by P-TEFb. We present evidence that Gdown1, a protein that renders Pol II responsive to mediator, is involved in Pol II elongation control. During in vitro transcription assays Gdown1 specifically blocked elongation stimulation by TFIIF, inhibited the termination activity of TTF2, and influenced pausing factors NELF and DSIF, but did not affect the function of TFIIS or the mRNA capping enzyme. Without P-TEFb, Gdown1 led to the production of stably paused polymerases in the presence of nuclear extract. Supporting these mechanistic insights, ChIP-Seq demonstrated that Gdown1 mapped over essentially all poised polymerases across the human genome. Our results establish that Gdown1 increases the stability of poised polymerases while maintaining their responsiveness to P-TEFb and suggest that mediator overcomes a Gdown1-mediated block of initiation by allowing TFIIF function.

RNA polymerase II (Pol II), whose 12 subunits are conserved across eukaryotes, is at the heart of the machinery responsible for transcription of mRNA. Although associated general transcription factors impart promoter specificity, responsiveness to gene-and tissue-selective activators additionally depends on the multiprotein Mediator coactivator complex. We have isolated from tissue extracts a distinct and abundant mammalian Pol II subpopulation that contains an additional tightly associated polypeptide, Gdown1. Our results establish that Gdown1-containing Pol II, designated Pol II(G), is selectively dependent on and responsive to Mediator. Thus, in an in vitro assay with general transcription factors, Pol II lacking Gdown1 displays unfettered levels of activator-dependent transcription in the presence or absence of Mediator. In contrast, Pol II(G) is dramatically less efficient in responding to activators in the absence of Mediator yet is highly and efficiently responsive to activators in the presence of Mediator. Our results reveal a transcriptional control mechanism in which Mediatordependent regulation is enforced by means of Gdown1, which likely restricts Pol II function only to be reversed by Mediator.activator ͉ transcription ͉ repression ͉ negative regulator

SUMMARY Pol II(G) is a distinct form of RNA polymerase II that contains the tightly associated Gdown1 polypeptide (encoded by POLR2M). Unlike Pol II, Pol II(G) is highly dependent upon Mediator for robust activator-dependent transcription in a biochemically defined in vitro system. Here, in vitro studies show that Gdown1 competes with TFIIF for binding to the RPB1 and RPB5 subunits of Pol II, thereby inhibiting an essential function of TFIIF in preinitiation complex assembly, but also that Mediator can actually facilitate Pol II(G) binding to the promoter prior to subsequent Mediator functions. Complementary ChIP and RNAi analyses reveal that Pol II(G) is recruited to promoter regions of subsets of actively transcribed genes, where it appears to restrict transcription. These and other results suggest that Pol II(G) may act to modulate some genes while simultaneously, as a poised (non-initiated) polymerase, setting the stage for Mediator-dependent enhancement of their activity.