GSE52914
Tyrosine phosphorylation of RNA Polymerase II CTD is associated with antisense promoter transcription and active enhancers in mammalian cells
In mammals, the carboxy-terminal domain (CTD) of RNA polymerase (Pol) II consists of 52 conserved heptapeptide repeats containing the consensus sequence Tyr1-Ser2-Pro3-Thr4-Ser5-Pro6-Ser7. Post-translational modifications of the CTD coordinate the transcription cycle and various steps of mRNA maturation. Here we describe Tyr1 phosphorylation (Tyr1P) as a hallmark of initiating Pol II in mammalian cells, in contrast to what was described in yeast. Tyr1P is predominantly found in antisense orientation at promoters but is also specifically enriched at active enhancers. Mutation of Tyr1 to phenylalanine (Y1F) prevents the formation of the hyper-phosphorylated Pol IIO form, induces degradation of Pol II to the Pol IIB form and results in a lethal phenotype. Our results suggest that Tyr1P has evolved specialized and essential functions in higher eukaryotes associated with antisense promoter and enhancer transcription, and Pol II stability. Overall design: This study was performed in a human Raji cell line. It contains ChIP-seq data for H3K36me3 (two replicates), H3K4me1 (two replicates), H3K4me3 (two replicates), Pol II (three replicates), Ser2P (two replicates), Ser5P (two replicates), Ser7P (two replicates), Tyr1P 3D12 (two replicates) and Tyr1P 8G5 (one replicate).  MNase-experiment for nucleosomes was performed in paired-end sequencing on one replicate, 4 replicates for the input genomic DNA was used and one replicate was generated for the short strand specific RNA experiment.