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PMID: 19524535 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

Potent transcriptional interference by pausing of RNA polymerases over a downstream promoter.

Molecular cell ·Vol. 34 ·No. 5 ·2009-06-12 ·Pages 545-55

Palmer AC, Ahlgren-Berg A, Egan JB, Dodd IB, Shearwin KE

Abstract

Elongating RNA polymerases (RNAPs) can interfere with transcription from downstream promoters by inhibiting DNA binding by RNAP and activators. However, combining quantitative measurement with mathematical modeling, we show that simple RNAP elongation cannot produce the strong asymmetric interference observed between a natural face-to-face promoter pair in bacteriophage lambda. Pausing of elongating polymerases over the RNAP-binding site of the downstream promoter is demonstrated in vivo and is shown by modeling to account for the increased interference. The model successfully predicts the effects on interference of treatments increasing or reducing pausing. Gene regulation by pausing-enhanced occlusion provides a general and potentially widespread mechanism by which even weak converging or tandem transcription, either coding or noncoding, can bring about strong in cis repression.

MeSH Terms
Bacteriophage lambda/genetics Binding Sites DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases/physiology Escherichia coli/genetics Gene Expression Regulation Models, Genetic Mutation Promoter Regions, Genetic Transcription, Genetic/physiology
Chemicals
DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases
Authors & Affiliations
5 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Palmer Adam C
School of Molecular and Biomedical Science, University of Adelaide, Adelaide, South Australia 5005, Australia.
Ahlgren-Berg Alexandra
Egan J Barry
Dodd Ian B
Shearwin Keith E
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Article Info
Journal
Molecular cell
Abbr.
Mol Cell
ISSN
1097-4164
DOI
10.1016/j.molcel.2009.04.018
Published
2009-06-12
Pages
545-55
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
9802571
PMCID
PMC2697128
Subset
IM
Grants
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM062976-05 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · GM062976 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM062976 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM062976-04 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM062976-06 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2009.04.018 PMC Full Text View journal details
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