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Orchestrating transcription with the pol II CTD

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 16, page 128 (2015)Cite this article

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A hallmark of eukaryotic RNA polymerase II (Pol II) is the unusual carboxy-terminal domain (CTD) of its largest subunit, RPB1. The Pol II CTD contains tandem repeats of a heptapeptide with a consensus YSPTSPS sequence.

Elegant biochemical and genetic studies carried out in the past 30 years have revealed that the Pol II CTD becomes extensively phosphorylated as Pol II elongates transcripts and, furthermore, that the phosphorylated CTD functions as a scaffold that recruits to elongating Pol II a host of enzymes and proteins involved in several co-transcriptional events. These factors are required for diverse processes such as the regulated release of Pol II from promoter-proximal pausing; pre-mRNA capping, methylation, splicing and polyadenylation; and co-transcriptional chromatin modification.

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References

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  1. Stowers Institute for Medical Research, 1000 E 50th St, Kansas City, 64110, Missouri, USA

    Ronald C. Conaway & Joan W. Conaway

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  1. Ronald C. Conaway
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  2. Joan W. Conaway
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Correspondence to Ronald C. Conaway or Joan W. Conaway.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

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Conaway, R., Conaway, J. Orchestrating transcription with the pol II CTD. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 16, 128 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm3956

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