title: Promoter-proximal pausing of RNA polymerase II: emerging roles in metazoans.
abstract: Recent years have witnessed a sea change in our understanding of transcription regulation: whereas traditional models focused solely on the events that brought RNA polymerase II (Pol II) to a gene promoter to initiate RNA synthesis, emerging evidence points to the pausing of Pol II during early elongation as a widespread regulatory mechanism in higher eukaryotes. Current data indicate that pausing is particularly enriched at genes in signal-responsive pathways. Here the evidence for pausing of Pol II from recent high-throughput studies will be discussed, as well as the potential interconnected functions of promoter-proximally paused Pol II.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Molecular Carcinogenesis, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709, USA. adelmank@niehs.nih.gov
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Adelman
authors.forename: John T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Lis
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001665:Binding Sites; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D011485:Protein Binding / Q000502:physiology; D012319:RNA Polymerase II / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology*; D012045:Regulatory Sequences, Nucleic Acid / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000502:physiology
chemical_list: D012319:RNA Polymerase II