Extensive polymerase pausing during Drosophila axis patterning enables high-level and pliable transcription.

ABSTRACT: Cascades of zygotic gene expression pattern the anterior-posterior (AP) and dorsal-ventral (DV) axes of the early Drosophila embryo. Here, we used the global run-on sequencing assay (GRO-seq) to map the genome-wide RNA polymerase distribution during early Drosophila embryogenesis, thus providing insights into how genes are regulated. We identify widespread promoter-proximal pausing yet show that the presence of paused polymerase does not necessarily equate to direct regulation through pause release to productive elongation. Our data reveal that a subset of early Zelda-activated genes is regulated at the level of polymerase recruitment, whereas other Zelda target and axis patterning genes are predominantly regulated through pause release. In contrast to other signaling pathways, we found th

SUBMITTER: Saunders A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3672648 | biostudies-literature | 2013 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature