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The RNA processing exosome is linked to elongating RNA polymerase II in Drosophila

Nature volume 420, pages 837–841 (2002)Cite this article

Abstract

The RNA polymerase II elongation complex contains several factors that facilitate transcription elongation and catalyse the processing of precursor messenger RNAs (pre-mRNAs)1,2,3. The conserved elongation factor Spt6 is recruited rapidly and robustly to sites of active transcription4,5. Here we show that Drosophila Spt6 (dSpt6) co-purifies with the exosome, a complex of 3′ to 5′ exoribonucleases that is implicated in the processing of structural RNA and in the degradation of improperly processed pre-mRNA6,7,8,9,10. Immunoprecipitation assays of Drosophila nuclear extracts show that the exosome also associates with the elongation factor dSpt5 and RNA polymerase II. In vivo, exosome subunits colocalize with dSpt6 at transcriptionally active loci on polytene chromosomes during normal development and are strongly recruited to heat-shock loci on gene induction. At higher resolution, chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis shows that the exosome is recruited to transcriptionally active units of heat-shock genes. These data provide a physical basis for the hypothesis that exosome-mediated pre-mRNA surveillance accompanies transcription elongation.

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Figure 1: The exosome co-purifies with dSpt6p.
Figure 2: The exosome associates with transcriptionally active loci on polytene chromosomes.
Figure 3: Crosslinking and immunoprecipitation of the exosome at Drosophila heat-shock genes.

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Acknowledgements

We thank members of the Lis laboratory for comments on the manuscript. This work was supported by an NIH grant to J.T.L., a National Research Service Award to E.D.A., and a National Cancer Institute (NCI) Cancer Center Support Grant to P.T.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, 14853, USA

    Erik D. Andrulis, Janis Werner & John T. Lis

  2. Molecular Biology Program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, 1275 York Avenue, New York, New York, 10021, USA

    Arpi Nazarian, Hediye Erdjument-Bromage & Paul Tempst

Authors
  1. Erik D. Andrulis
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Correspondence to Erik D. Andrulis or John T. Lis.

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Andrulis, E., Werner, J., Nazarian, A. et al. The RNA processing exosome is linked to elongating RNA polymerase II in Drosophila. Nature 420, 837–841 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1038/nature01181

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