BUR1, which was previously identified by a selection for mutations that have general effects on transcription in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, encodes a cyclin-dependent kinase that is essential for viability, but none of its substrates have been identified to date. Using an unbiased biochemical approach, we have identified the carboxy-terminal domain (CTD) of Rpb1, the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II, as a Bur1 substrate. Phosphorylation of Rpb1 by Bur1 is likely to be physiologically relevant, since bur1 mutations interact genetically with rpb1 CTD truncations and with mutations in other genes involved in CTD function. Several genetic interactions are presented, implying a role for Bur1 during transcriptional elongation. These results identify Bur1 as a fourth S. cerevisiae CTD kinase and provide striking functional similarities between Bur1 and metazoan P-TEFb.The largest subunit of RNA polymerase II (Pol II), Rpb1, contains a highly conserved carboxy-terminal domain (CTD) that has a central role in transcriptional regulation in vivo (3, 11). The Rpb1 CTD consists of multiple repeats of the consensus heptapeptide sequence Tyr-Ser-Pro-Thr-Ser-Pro-Ser, which is repeated 26 times in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, 42 times in Drosophila melanogaster, and 52 times in humans and mice (9). Although the CTD is not required for RNA polymerase activity in promoter-independent assays, it is essential in vivo; deletion of the entire CTD in Drosophila and S. cerevisiae results in lethality, while truncation to 11 repeats in yeast confers conditional growth and promoter-specific transcriptional defects (36).Phosphorylation of the CTD is important for regulation of Pol II activity during the transcription cycle: unphosphorylated Pol II is preferentially recruited into the preinitiation complex (PIC) (33) and then becomes phosphorylated during the transition from initiation to elongation (28). CTD phosphorylation thus has both stimulatory and inhibitory roles; phosphorylation prior to PIC assembly inhibits initiation, while phosphorylation after PIC assembly stimulates promoter escape and elongation. Phosphorylation occurs primarily on serine 2 and serine 5 of the consensus CTD repeat, with serine 2-phosphorylated Rpb1 being enriched distally from the promoter and serine 5-phosphorylated Rpb1 being enriched at promoter-proximal regions (26). Hyperphosphorylation of the CTD is also linked to other essential events during mRNA synthesis, including recruitment of mRNA modification enzymes and pre-mRNA splicing factors (reviewed in reference 50).The importance of CTD phosphorylation for Pol II regulation has prompted efforts to identify the kinases and phosphatases that determine the CTD phosphorylation state. Several kinases capable of phosphorylating the CTD in vitro have been identified in Drosophila, human, and rodent cell extracts (reviewed in reference 11), but it is not clear whether they all function as CTD kinases in vivo. In S. cerevisiae, where sophisticated genetic analysis can be readily combined with biochemistry to de...
Major genome activation is a key event in early embryonic development occurring at the late 2-cell stage in the mouse. Concomitantly occurring molecular and ultrastructural changes in the nucleolus, where the ribosomal RNA genes are transcribed and their transcripts processed, enable the use of this organelle as a sensitive marker of genome activation in embryos produced by different techniques. The aim of this study was to evaluate and compare the genome activation in mouse embryos of different origin using the nucleolus as a marker. Early and late 2-cell- and late 4-cell-stage embryos, prepared by in vitro fertilization (IVF), parthenogenetic activation (PG), and somatic cell nuclear transfer of mouse embryonic fibroblast (MEF), and mouse HM1 embryonic stem cells (HM1) were processed for autoradiography following 3H-uridine incubation and transmission electron microscopy (5 embryos per group) and for immunofluorescence for detection of nucleolar proteins involved in rRNA synthesis (upstream binding factor; UBF) and processing (nucleophosmin; B23) (10–21 embryos per group). Early 2-cell embryos in all groups showed transcriptional activity in the nucleoplasm, but not over nucleolar precursor bodies (NPBs). UBF was localized diffusely in the cytoplasm. B23 was, likewise, localized in the cytoplasm and, in 30% of embryos, in the nucleoplasm. Late 2-cell IVF and PG embryos displayed transcriptional labelling over nucleoplasm and NPBs, which, ultrastructurally, were in the process of transformation into fibrillo-granular nucleoli presenting fibrillar centers, a dense fibrillar component, and a granular component. MEF and HM1 embryos displayed transcriptional labelling over nucleoplasm, but not over NPBs, and the transformation into functional nucleoli was never observed at this stage of development. UBF and B23 were in all groups localized in the nucleoplasm and, in 40–50% of cases, distinctly in the developing nucleoli. At the late 4-cell stage, all embryos presented transcriptional labelling over nucleoplasm and NPBs, which were at different levels of transformation into fibrillo-granular nucleoli. UBF and B23 were distinctly localized in these developing nucleoli. However, whereas fully transformed reticulated fibrillo-granular nucleoli without remnants of NPBs were found in IVF and PG embryos, despite the distinct localization of nucleolar proteins, the nucleoli in MEF and HM1 embryos were not reticulated and still displayed remnants of NPBs. Conclusively, embryos reconstructed by nuclear transfer, independent of cell origin, displayed well-timed extranucleolar genomic activation, but delayed transformation of NPBs into reticulated fibrillo-granular nucleoli. Moreover, the proper nucleolar activation noted in PG embryos activated in the same manner as MEF and HM1 embryos demonstrate that somatic and embryonic stem cell factors exert an influence on nucleolar activation and may cause reduced embryo viability. This work was supported by the Specific Targeted Project (MED-RAT; contract LSHG-CT-2006-518240) and Marie Curie ResearchTraining Networks (CLONET; contract 035468-2).
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