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PMID: 22986266 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, N.I.H., Intramural Review

Promoter-proximal pausing of RNA polymerase II: emerging roles in metazoans.

Nature reviews. Genetics ·Vol. 13 ·No. 10 ·2012-10-00 ·Pages 720-31

Adelman K, Lis JT

Abstract

Recent years have witnessed a sea change in our understanding of transcription regulation: whereas traditional models focused solely on the events that brought RNA polymerase II (Pol II) to a gene promoter to initiate RNA synthesis, emerging evidence points to the pausing of Pol II during early elongation as a widespread regulatory mechanism in higher eukaryotes. Current data indicate that pausing is particularly enriched at genes in signal-responsive pathways. Here the evidence for pausing of Pol II from recent high-throughput studies will be discussed, as well as the potential interconnected functions of promoter-proximally paused Pol II.

MeSH Terms
Animals Binding Sites Gene Expression Regulation/genetics Humans Models, Biological Promoter Regions, Genetic/genetics Protein Binding/physiology RNA Polymerase II/metabolism,physiology Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid/genetics,physiology Transcription, Genetic/physiology
Chemicals
RNA Polymerase II
Authors & Affiliations
2 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Adelman Karen
Laboratory of Molecular Carcinogenesis, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709, USA. adelmank@niehs.nih.gov
Lis John T
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Article Info
Journal
Nature reviews. Genetics
Abbr.
Nat Rev Genet
ISSN
1471-0064
DOI
10.1038/nrg3293
Email
adelmank@niehs.nih.gov
Published
2012-10-00
Pages
720-31
Language
English
Region
England
NLM ID
100962779
PMCID
PMC3552498
Subset
IM
Grants
Intramural NIH HHS · ZIA ES101987-07 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · GM25232 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R37 GM025232 · United States
Intramural NIH HHS · Z01 ES101987 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM025232 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1038/nrg3293 PMC Full Text View journal details
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