This Article
Right arrow Full Text
Right arrow Full Text (PDF)
Right arrow Supplemental material
Right arrow Alert me when this article is cited
Right arrow Alert me if a correction is posted
Services
Right arrow Similar articles in this journal
Right arrow Similar articles in PubMed
Right arrow Alert me to new issues of the journal
Right arrow Download to citation manager
Right arrowReprints and Permissions
Right arrow Copyright Information
Right arrow Books from ASM Press
Right arrow MicrobeWorld
Citing Articles
Right arrow Citing Articles via HighWire
Right arrow Citing Articles via Google Scholar
Google Scholar
Right arrow Articles by Adelman, K.
Right arrow Articles by Lis, J. T.
Right arrow Search for Related Content
PubMed
Right arrow PubMed Citation
Right arrow Articles by Adelman, K.
Right arrow Articles by Lis, J. T.

 Previous Article  |  Next Article 

Molecular and Cellular Biology, January 2006, p. 250-260, Vol. 26, No. 1
0270-7306/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/MCB.26.1.250-260.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.

Drosophila Paf1 Modulates Chromatin Structure at Actively Transcribed Genes{ddagger}

Karen Adelman,1,{dagger},§ Wenxiang Wei,2,{dagger} M. Behfar Ardehali,1 Janis Werner,1 Bing Zhu,2 Danny Reinberg,2 and John T. Lis1*

Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Biotechnology Building, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853,1 Howard Hughes Medical Institute, Division of Nucleic Acids Enzymology, Department of Biochemistry, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey, Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, 683 Hoes Lane, Piscataway, New Jersey 08854-56352

Received 29 July 2005/ Returned for modification 18 September 2005/ Accepted 8 October 2005

The Paf1 complex in yeast has been reported to influence a multitude of steps in gene expression through interactions with RNA polymerase II (Pol II) and chromatin-modifying complexes; however, it is unclear which of these many activities are primary functions of Paf1 and are conserved in metazoans. We have identified and characterized the Drosophila homologs of three subunits of the yeast Paf1 complex and found striking differences between the yeast and Drosophila Paf1 complexes. We demonstrate that although Drosophila Paf1, Rtf1, and Cdc73 colocalize broadly with actively transcribing, phosphorylated Pol II, and all are recruited to activated heat shock genes with similar kinetics; Rtf1 does not appear to be a stable part of the Drosophila Paf1 complex. RNA interference (RNAi)-mediated depletion of Paf1 or Rtf1 leads to defects in induction of Hsp70 RNA, but tandem RNAi-chromatin immunoprecipitation assays show that loss of neither Paf1 nor Rtf1 alters the density or distribution of phosphorylated Pol II on the active Hsp70 gene. However, depletion of Paf1 reduces trimethylation of histone H3 at lysine 4 in the Hsp70 promoter region and significantly decreases the recruitment of chromatin-associated factors Spt6 and FACT, suggesting that Paf1 may manifest its effects on transcription through modulating chromatin structure.

* Corresponding author. Mailing address: Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Biotechnology Building, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853. Phone: (607) 255-2442. Fax: (607) 255-6249. E-mail: jtl10{at}cornell.edu.

{dagger} K.A. and W.W. contributed equally to this work. {ddagger} Supplemental material for this article may be found at http://mcb.asm.org/.

§ Present address: Laboratory of Molecular Carcinogenesis, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Research Triangle Park, NC 27709.

Molecular and Cellular Biology, January 2006, p. 250-260, Vol. 26, No. 1
0022-538X/06/$08.00+0     doi:10.1128/MCB.26.1.250-260.2006
Copyright © 2006, American Society for Microbiology. All Rights Reserved.



This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Zhang, Y., Sikes, M. L., Beyer, A. L., Schneider, D. A. (2009). The Paf1 complex is required for efficient transcription elongation by RNA polymerase I. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 106: 2153-2158 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Buszczak, M., Paterno, S., Spradling, A. C. (2009). Drosophila Stem Cells Share a Common Requirement for the Histone H2B Ubiquitin Protease Scrawny. Science 323: 248-251 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Gilchrist, D. A., Nechaev, S., Lee, C., Ghosh, S. K. B., Collins, J. B., Li, L., Gilmour, D. S., Adelman, K. (2008). NELF-mediated stalling of Pol II can enhance gene expression by blocking promoter-proximal nucleosome assembly. Genes Dev. 22: 1921-1933 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Sustmann, C., Flach, H., Ebert, H., Eastman, Q., Grosschedl, R. (2008). Cell-Type-Specific Function of BCL9 Involves a Transcriptional Activation Domain That Synergizes with {beta}-Catenin. Mol. Cell. Biol. 28: 3526-3537 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Smith, E. R., Lee, M. G., Winter, B., Droz, N. M., Eissenberg, J. C., Shiekhattar, R., Shilatifard, A. (2008). Drosophila UTX Is a Histone H3 Lys27 Demethylase That Colocalizes with the Elongating Form of RNA Polymerase II. Mol. Cell. Biol. 28: 1041-1046 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Youn, M.-Y., Yoo, H.-S., Kim, M.-J., Hwang, S.-Y., Choi, Y., Desiderio, S. V., Yoo, J.-Y. (2007). hCTR9, a Component of Paf1 Complex, Participates in the Transcription of Interleukin 6-responsive Genes through Regulation of STAT3-DNA Interactions. J. Biol. Chem. 282: 34727-34734 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Yokoyama, R., Pannuti, A., Ling, H., Smith, E. R., Lucchesi, J. C. (2007). A Plasmid Model System Shows that Drosophila Dosage Compensation Depends on the Global Acetylation of Histone H4 at Lysine 16 and Is Not Affected by Depletion of Common Transcription Elongation Chromatin Marks. Mol. Cell. Biol. 27: 7865-7870 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Yoh, S. M., Cho, H., Pickle, L., Evans, R. M., Jones, K. A. (2007). The Spt6 SH2 domain binds Ser2-P RNAPII to direct Iws1-dependent mRNA splicing and export. Genes Dev. 21: 160-174 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Reinberg, D., Sims, R. J. III (2006). de FACTo Nucleosome Dynamics. J. Biol. Chem. 281: 23297-23301 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Tenney, K., Gerber, M., Ilvarsonn, A., Schneider, J., Gause, M., Dorsett, D., Eissenberg, J. C., Shilatifard, A. (2006). Drosophila Rtf1 functions in histone methylation, gene expression, and Notch signaling. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 103: 11970-11974 [Abstract] [Full Text]  
  • Willert, K., Jones, K. A. (2006). Wnt signaling: is the party in the nucleus?. Genes Dev. 20: 1394-1404 [Abstract] [Full Text]  


Copyright © 2009 by the American Society for Microbiology.   For an alternate route to Journals.ASM.org, visit: http://intl-journals.asm.org | More Info»