title: A pause site for RNA polymerase II is associated with termination of transcription.
abstract: Termination of transcription by RNA polymerase II has been postulated to involve a pausing process. We have identified such a pause signal, 350 bp into the 3' flanking region of the human alpha 2 globin gene at a position where termination is thought to occur. We show that this pause signal enhances the utilization of an upstream poly(A) site which is otherwise out-competed by a stronger downstream poly(A) site. We also demonstrate that the pause site rescues a poly(A) site that is inactive due to its location within an intron. Using nuclear run-on analysis we show that elongating RNA polymerase II molecules accumulate over this pause signal. Furthermore we show that when the pause site is positioned immediately downstream of a strong poly(A) signal, significant levels of transcription termination take place.
authors.affiliation: Sir William Dunn School of Pathology, University of Oxford, UK.
authors.forename: P
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Enriquez-Harris
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Levitt
authors.forename: D
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Briggs
authors.forename: N J
authors.initials: NJ
authors.lastname: Proudfoot
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D005914:Globins / Q000235:genetics; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D007438:Introns; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011061:Poly A / Q000235:genetics; D012319:RNA Polymerase II / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D013728:Terminator Regions, Genetic; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D011061:Poly A; D005914:Globins; D012319:RNA Polymerase II