title: Broad requirement for the mediator subunit RGR-1 for transcription in the Caenorhabditis elegans embryo.
abstract: The Mediator-related transcription co-factors integrate positive and negative inputs and recruit and activate the RNA polymerase II complex. To understand the role of Mediator during transcription, it is important to identify Mediator subunits that are essential for its functions. In the yeast Mediator, the conserved component Rgr1 is associated with multiple subunits that are required for specific activation or repression events. Yeast rgr1 is essential for viability, for certain repression mechanisms, and for activation of heat shock genes, but it is not known whether rgr1 is generally important for transcription. Here we have performed the first analysis of rgr-1 function in a metazoan. We found that in the developing Caenorhabditis elegans embryo rgr-1 is broadly required for transcription and for phosphorylation of both Ser-2 and Ser-5 of the RNA polymerase II C-terminal domain repeat. We conclude that RGR-1 fulfills a critical Mediator function that is broadly essential for metazoan mRNA transcription and that RGR-1 may be required at an early recruitment or initiation step.
authors.affiliation: Center for Blood Research and Department of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, 200 Longwood Avenue, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Eun Yong
authors.initials: EY
authors.lastname: Shim
authors.forename: Amy K
authors.initials: AK
authors.lastname: Walker
authors.forename: T Keith
authors.initials: TK
authors.lastname: Blackwell
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D000818:Animals; D017173:Caenorhabditis elegans / Q000196:embryology; D004625:Embryo, Nonmammalian / Q000502:physiology; D005260:Female; D005656:Fungal Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D056892:Mediator Complex; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010766:Phosphorylation; D021122:Protein Subunits; D012319:RNA Polymerase II / Q000737:chemistry / Q000378:metabolism; D011817:Rabbits; D012097:Repressor Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D005656:Fungal Proteins; D056892:Mediator Complex; D021122:Protein Subunits; C095061:RGR1 protein, S cerevisiae; D012097:Repressor Proteins; D029701:Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins; D014157:Transcription Factors; D012319:RNA Polymerase II