Project description:RNA polymerase II promoter-proximal pausing is orchestrated by a ribonucleoprotein complex scaffolded by the noncoding RNA Rn7sk. However, how this interruption of transcription is mechanistically linked to RNA production remains largely unknown. Here, we show that forcing the pause release by germ-line deletion of Rn7sk was embryonic lethal, yet conditional deletion of Rn7sk enhanced stem cell differentiation in skin. To explore the immediate transcriptional mechanisms underpinning enhanced differentiation, we metabolically labelled newly-synthesized RNAs after Rn7sk deletion. Unexpectedly, forced pause release robustly repressed transcription specifically at cell cycle regulators, in the absence of chromatin remodeling at promoters and enhancers. Our results indicate that polymerase pausing affords the core elongation machinery time to properly assemble, and forced elongation triggers splicing defects and nuclear RNA decay. Cell cycle regulators appear highly sensitive to mis-regulation of the elongation machinery due to unique genomic features of high promoter accessibility and low GC–content in the gene body. Transcriptional pausing thus serves as a rate-limiting step in controlling cell division.
Project description:RNA polymerase II promoter-proximal pausing is orchestrated by a ribonucleoprotein complex scaffolded by the noncoding RNA Rn7sk. However, how this interruption of transcription is mechanistically linked to RNA production remains largely unknown. Here, we show that forcing the pause release by germ-line deletion of Rn7sk was embryonic lethal, yet conditional deletion of Rn7sk enhanced stem cell differentiation in skin. To explore the immediate transcriptional mechanisms underpinning enhanced differentiation, we metabolically labelled newly-synthesized RNAs after Rn7sk deletion. Unexpectedly, forced pause release robustly repressed transcription specifically at cell cycle regulators, in the absence of chromatin remodeling at promoters and enhancers. Our results indicate that polymerase pausing affords the core elongation machinery time to properly assemble, and forced elongation triggers splicing defects and nuclear RNA decay. Cell cycle regulators appear highly sensitive to mis-regulation of the elongation machinery due to unique genomic features of high promoter accessibility and low GC–content in the gene body. Transcriptional pausing thus serves as a rate-limiting step in controlling cell division.
Project description:Controlled release of promoter-proximal paused RNA polymerase II (RNA Pol II) is crucial for gene regulation. However, studying RNA Pol II pausing is challenging, as pause-release factors are almost all essential. In this study, we identified heterozygous loss-of-function mutations in SUPT5H, which encodes SPT5, in individuals with β-thalassemia. During erythropoiesis in healthy human cells, cell cycle genes were highly paused as cells transition from progenitors to precursors. When the pathogenic mutations were recapitulated by SUPT5H editing, RNA Pol II pause release was globally disrupted, and as cells began transitioning from progenitors to precursors, differentiation was delayed, accompanied by a transient lag in erythroid-specific gene expression and cell cycle kinetics. Despite this delay, cells terminally differentiate, and cell cycle phase distributions normalize. Therefore, hindering pause release perturbs proliferation and differentiation dynamics at a key transition during erythropoiesis, identifying a role for RNA Pol II pausing in temporally coordinating the cell cycle and erythroid differentiation.
