FACT is recruited to the +1 nucleosome of transcribed genes and spreads in a Chd1-dependent manner.

The histone chaperone FACT occupies transcribed regions where it plays prominent roles in maintaining chromatin integrity and preserving epigenetic information. How it is targeted to transcribed regions, however, remains unclear. Proposed models include docking on the RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) C-terminal domain (CTD), recruitment by elongation factors, recognition of modified histone tails, and binding partially disassembled nucleosomes.

RNA Polymerase II CTD Tyrosine 1 Is Required for Efficient Termination by the Nrd1-Nab3-Sen1 Pathway.

In Saccharomyces cerevisiae, transcription termination at protein-coding genes is coupled to the cleavage of the nascent transcript, whereas most non-coding RNA transcription relies on a cleavage-independent termination pathway involving Nrd1, Nab3, and Sen1 (NNS). Termination involves RNA polymerase II CTD phosphorylation, but a systematic analysis of the contribution of individual residues would improve our understanding of the role of the CTD in this process. Here we investigated the effect of mutating phosphorylation sites in the CTD on termination.

Bidirectional terminators in Saccharomyces cerevisiae prevent cryptic transcription from invading neighboring genes.

Transcription can be quite disruptive for chromatin so cells have evolved mechanisms to preserve chromatin integrity during transcription, thereby preventing the emergence of cryptic transcripts from spurious promoter sequences. How these transcripts are regulated and processed remains poorly characterized. Notably, very little is known about the termination of cryptic transcripts.

The RNA Polymerase II CTD: The Increasing Complexity of a Low-Complexity Protein Domain.

The largest subunit of RNA polymerase II contains a C-terminal domain (CTD) that plays key roles in coordinating transcription with co-transcriptional events. The heptapeptide repeats that form the CTD are dynamically phosphorylated on serine, tyrosine and threonine residues during the various steps of transcription, thereby regulating the recruitment of various proteins involved in gene expression. In this "Perspective," we review the recent literature related to the function of the CTD, to CTD kinases (Kin28, CDK7, CDK9, CDK12, ERK1/2 and DYRK1A) and to CTD phosphatases (Rtr1, RPAP2, Ssu72, Fcp1 and Gcl7).

Modulation of the UGT2B7 enzyme activity by C-terminally truncated proteins derived from alternative splicing.

The enzyme UGT2B7 is one of the most active UDP-glucuronosyltransferases (UGTs) involved in drug metabolism and in maintaining homeostasis of endogenous compounds. We recently reported the existence of 22 UGT2B7 mRNAs, two with a classic 5' region but alternative 3' ends namely UGT2B7_v5 (containing a novel terminal exon 6b) and _v7 (exon 5 excluded) that encode enzymatically inactive isoforms 2 and 4 (i2 and i4), respectively. The v1 mRNA encoding the UGT2B7 enzyme (renamed isoform 1 or i1) is coexpressed with the splice variants v5 and v7 in human liver, kidney, and small intestine and the hepatic cell lines HepG2 and C3A.

Protein-protein interactions between the bilirubin-conjugating UDP-glucuronosyltransferase UGT1A1 and its shorter isoform 2 regulatory partner derived from alternative splicing.

The oligomerization of UGTs [UDP (uridine diphosphate)-glucuronosyltransferases] modulates their enzyme activities. Recent findings also indicate that glucuronidation is negatively regulated by the formation of inactive oligomeric complexes between UGT1A enzymes [i1 (isoform 1)] and an enzymatically inactive alternatively spliced i2 (isoform 2). In the present paper, we assessed whether deletion of the UGT-interacting domains previously reported to be critical for enzyme function might be involved in i1-i2 interactions.