HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

SpELLing Transcription Elongation in Fungi

ELL family transcription factors increase the rate of transcription elongation by suppressing transient pauses by RNA polymerase II. ELL-associated factors 1 and 2 (EAF1 and EAF2) bind to ELL family members and positively regulate their transcription activities. Orthologs of ELL and EAF have been found in metazoa, but until now, attempts to find orthologs of the proteins in fungi have been unsuccessful.

Deleting SpELL renders S. pombe sensitive to 6-azauracil.

Using bioinformatic and biochemical approaches, Charles A. S. Banks and colleagues have now identified a new Schizosaccharomyces pombe RNA polymerase II elongation factor that is composed of two subunits, SpELL and SpEAF. The subunits share weak sequence similarity with members of the metazoan ELL and EAF families. Like their counterparts from larger eukaryotes, SpELL and SpEAF interact with one another to form a stable heterodimer that potently activates transcription elongation by RNA polymerase II in vitro. In addition, like many yeast RNA polymerase II elongation factors, deletion of the SpELL gene renders S. pombe sensitive to the drug 6-azauracil. This discovery provides strong evidence that transcription elongation factors of this class are not limited to multicellular organisms.

FOOTNOTES

See referenced article, J. Biol. Chem. 2007, 282, 5761-5769

[More Papers of the Week]