We report the identification of a transcription elongation factor from HeLa cell nuclear extracts that causes pausing of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) in conjunction with the transcription inhibitor 5,6-dichloro-1-␤-D-ribofuranosylbenzimidazole (DRB). This factor, termed DRB sensitivity-inducing factor (DSIF), is also required for transcription inhibition by H8. DSIF has been purified and is composed of 160-kD (p160) and 14-kD (p14) subunits. Isolation of a cDNA encoding DSIF p160 shows it to be a homolog of the Saccharomyces cerevisiae transcription factor Spt5. Recombinant Supt4h protein, the human homolog of yeast Spt4, is functionally equivalent to DSIF p14, indicating that DSIF is composed of the human homologs of Spt4 and Spt5. In addition to its negative role in elongation, DSIF is able to stimulate the rate of elongation by RNA Pol II in a reaction containing limiting concentrations of ribonucleoside triphosphates. A role for DSIF in transcription elongation is further supported by the fact that p160 has a region homologous to the bacterial elongation factor NusG. The combination of biochemical studies on DSIF and genetic analysis of Spt4 and Spt5 in yeast, also in this issue, indicates that DSIF associates with RNA Pol II and regulates its processivity in vitro and in vivo.

Much of the genome is transcribed into long noncoding RNAs (ncRNAs). Previous data suggested that bithoraxoid (bxd) ncRNAs of the Drosophila bithorax complex (BX-C) prevent silencing of Ultrabithorax (Ubx) and recruit activating proteins of the trithorax group (trxG) to their maintenance elements (MEs). We found that, surprisingly, Ubx and several bxd ncRNAs are expressed in nonoverlapping patterns in both embryos and imaginal discs, suggesting that transcription of these ncRNAs is associated with repression, not activation, of Ubx. Our data rule out siRNA or miRNA-based mechanisms for repression by bxd ncRNAs. Rather, ncRNA transcription itself, acting in cis, represses Ubx. The Trithorax complex TAC1 binds the Ubx coding region in nuclei expressing Ubx, and the bxd region in nuclei not expressing Ubx. We propose that TAC1 promotes the mosaic pattern of Ubx expression by facilitating transcriptional elongation of bxd ncRNAs, which represses Ubx transcription.

RNA polymerase II (Pol II) transcription through nucleosomes is facilitated in vitro by the protein complex FACT (Facilitates Chromatin Transcription). Here we show that FACT is associated with actively transcribed Pol II genes on Drosophila polytene chromosomes. FACT displays kinetics of recruitment and of chromosome tracking in vivo similar to Pol II and elongation factors Spt5 and Spt6. Interestingly, FACT does not colocalize with Pol III-transcribed genes, which are known to undergo nucleosome transfer rather than disassembly in vitro. Our observations are consistent with FACT being restricted to transcription that involves nucleosome disassembly mechanisms.

Facilitates chromatin transcription (FACT) plays essential roles in chromatin remodeling during DNA transcription, replication, and repair. Our structural and biochemical studies of human FACT-histone interactions present precise views of nucleosome reorganization, conducted by the FACT-SPT16 (suppressor of Ty 16) Mid domain and its adjacent acidic AID segment. AID accesses the H2B N-terminal basic region exposed by partial unwrapping of the nucleosomal DNA, thereby triggering the invasion of FACT into the nucleosome. The crystal structure of the Mid domain complexed with an H3-H4 tetramer exhibits two separate contact sites; the Mid domain forms a novel intermolecular β structure with H4. At the other site, the Mid-H2A steric collision on the H2A-docking surface of the H3-H4 tetramer within the nucleosome induces H2A-H2B displacement. This integrated mechanism results in disrupting the H3 αN helix, which is essential for retaining the nucleosomal DNA ends, and hence facilitates DNA stripping from histone.