RNA polymerase stalling at developmental control genes in the Drosophila melanogaster embryo

Julia Zeitlinger, Alexander Stark, Manolis Kellis, Joung Woo Hong, Sergei Nechaev, Karen Adelman, Michael Levine, Richard A. Young

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

578 Scopus citations

Abstract

It is widely assumed that the key rate-limiting step in gene activation is the recruitment of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) to the core promoter. Although there are well-documented examples in which Pol II is recruited to a gene but stalls, a general role for Pol II stalling in development has not been established. We have carried out comprehensive Pol II chromatin immunoprecipitation microarray (ChIP-chip) assays in Drosophila embryos and identified three distinct Pol II binding behaviors: active (uniform binding across the entire transcription unit), no binding, and stalled (binding at the transcription start site). The notable feature of the ∼10% genes that are stalled is that they are highly enriched for developmental control genes, which are either repressed or poised for activation during later stages of embryogenesis. We propose that Pol II stalling facilitates rapid temporal and spatial changes in gene activity during development.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1512-1516
Number of pages5
JournalNature Genetics
Volume39
Issue number12
DOIs
StatePublished - Dec 2007
Externally publishedYes

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Genetics

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'RNA polymerase stalling at developmental control genes in the Drosophila melanogaster embryo'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this