Reversible Phosphorylation of the C-terminal Domain of RNA Polymerase II*
- From the Section of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Division of Biological Sciences, University of California, Davis, California 95616
INTRODUCTION
RNA polymerase (RNAP)1 II is responsible for the synthesis of pre-mRNA in eukaryotic cells. The subunit structure of RNAP II is similar to that of other RNAPs in that it is comprised of two large subunits with a molecular weight in excess of 100,000 and a collection of smaller subunits (,1, 2). However, the largest subunit of RNAP II is unique in that it contains an unusual domain at its C terminus comprised of tandem repeats of the consensus sequence Tyr-Ser-Pro-Thr-Ser-Pro-Ser (3). The consensus repeat has been conserved in evolution although the number of repeats present varies in different species. RNA polymerase II of mammalian cells contains 52 copies of the consensus repeat, and yeast contains 26-27 copies, whereas other eukaryotes contain an intermediate number of repeats. Although this C-terminal domain (CTD) plays an essential role in transcription catalyzed by RNAP II, it is absent from RNAPs I and III. The CTD of yeast and mammalian RNAP II was first reported about 10 years ago and is shown in Fig. 1 (4, 5). This domain has provided a focal point for the analysis of RNAP II structure-function relationships. Although our understanding of the CTD has increased considerably in the ensuing 10 years, its precise role in transcription remains to be established.
Temporal Relationship between Phosphorylation of CTD and Progression of RNAP II Through Transcription Cycle
Apart from the extensive repetition of the consensus repeat, the CTD is unusual in that it is heavily phosphorylated at a specific phase of the transcription cycle (3, 6). RNAP II containing an unmodified CTD is referred to as RNAP IIA, whereas RNAP II containing a hyperphosphorylated CTD is referred to as RNAP IIO. The largest subunit of RNAPs IIA and IIO is designated IIa and IIo, respectively. Although it has not been possible to map or quantitate the number of sites phosphorylated in vivo, the number appears to be in excess of 50 (7). Serine is the predominant site of phosphorylation with a low level of phosphorylation on threonine and tyrosine (6, 8, 9).
RNAPs IIA and IIO have distinct roles in the transcription cycle. It is now generally accepted that RNAP II containing an unphosphorylated CTD, namely RNAP IIA, assembles into a preinitiation complex on the promoter (10, 11, 12, 13). Presumably, protein-protein interactions mediated by the unphosphorylated CTD play a role in the positioning of RNAP II at the start site of transcription. Phosphorylation of the CTD is catalyzed by a CTD kinase that stably associates with the preinitiation complex. Transcript elongation is catalyzed by RNAP IIO (6, 14, 15). Therefore, phosphorylation of the CTD accompanies the transition of RNAP II from a preinitiation complex to a stable elongation complex. Although CTD phosphorylation is temporally correlated with promoter clearance and thought to be a prerequisite to the formation of a stable elongation complex, the precise role of CTD phosphorylation remains obscure. The idea that phosphorylation of the CTD at multiple sites serves to disrupt interactions between the unmodified CTD and proteins necessary for the formation of a stable preinitiation complex remains an attractive possibility. Upon completion of the transcript, RNAP IIO must be dephosphorylated by CTD phosphatase to regenerate RNAP IIA and complete the cycle. The transcription cycle of RNAP II is schematically represented in Fig. 2.
Schematic representation of the transcription cycle of RNAP II. Panel A shows a reaction scheme in which the formation of the preinitiation complex proceeds by the stepwise assembly of the GTFs and RNAP II onto the promoter. The CTD is represented by a heavy wavy line. CTDP, C-terminal domain phosphatase. Panel B shows a reaction scheme in which the holoenzyme is formed in the absence of DNA and loaded onto the promoter. The composition of the mediator and RNAP II holoenzyme has not been rigorously defined, especially in mammalian cells. Accordingly, even though specific GTFs are shown as constituents of the mediator or holoenzyme, this is for illustrative purposes only.
Role of CTD in Preinitiation Complex Formation and in Mediating Activity of Transcriptional Regulators
To understand the involvement of the CTD in assembly of the preinitiation complex, it is necessary to consider the complex array of proteins that participate in the early phase of transcription. Assembly of a preinitiation complex and the initiation of transcription are dependent on the presence of multiple general transcription factors (GTFs) (16, 17). These factors, designated TFIIA, -IIB, -IID, -IIE, -IIF, and -IIH, in addition to RNAP II are sufficient to support a basal level of transcription from a variety of eukaryotic promoters. Although this complement of factors is sufficient to support transcription in reconstituted systems, additional proteins appear to be involved in vivo. An important clue that additional proteins are required came from the analysis of second site mutations that suppress the conditional phenotype of CTD truncation mutants (18, 19). These SRB genes (suppressors of RNA polymerase B) encode proteins that are involved in transcription and interact with RNAP II (20).
Recently, a holoenzyme form of RNAP II has been described in yeast that is comprised of the core enzyme, the GTFs TFIIB, TFIIF, TFIIH, the products of all nine SRB genes, GAL11, SUG1, and components of the SWI/SNF complex (19, 20, 21, 22). The SWI/SNF complex is a general transcriptional regulator involved in chromatin remodeling. A second form of the yeast holoenzyme has been described that also includes the global transcriptional regulators Sin4 and Rgrl but apparently lacks TFIIB, TFIIH, and the SWI/SNF complex (23, 24). The difference in holoenzyme composition may arise from different methods of purification that lead to the loss of specific components of the holoenzyme or from differences in either growth conditions or strains of yeast. Alternatively, multiple forms of the holoenzyme may exist. The holoenzyme differs functionally from core RNAP II in that it is responsive to transcriptional regulators in in vitro assays. The multiprotein complex containing SRBs and certain GTFs is stable in the absence of RNAP II and has been termed the mediator (19, 24). The mediator appears to associate with core RNAP II via direct interactions with the CTD (24). This observation is consistent with early results, which indicate that the CTD plays an essential role in mediating the response to various transcriptional regulators (25, 26, 27). The mammalian holoenzyme, although less well characterized, is reported to contain the GTFs, TFIIE, TFIIF, and TFIIH, in addition to SRB homologues and proteins involved in DNA repair (56). The human RNAP II holoenzyme is comprised of approximately 80 polypeptides, only some of which have been identified.
The discovery of holo-RNAP II has caused a reconsideration of how preinitiation complexes might assemble on the promoter. Analysis of transcription in reconstituted reactions indicates that preinitiation complexes can assemble by the sequential and ordered association of individual GTFs and RNAP II with the promoter (see Fig. 2A). Alternatively, a macromolecular complex containing multiple GTFs, SRBs, and core RNAP II can assemble independent of the promoter and bind directly to DNA (see Fig. 2B). It is not yet possible to distinguish which reaction scheme more closely resembles how transcription complexes form in vivo. However, in either case, the CTD likely plays a critical role by mediating the interaction of core RNAP II with the factors necessary for preinitiation complex assembly and response to transcriptional regulators. Since neither RNAP I nor RNAP III must integrate the input from such a diverse array of regulatory proteins, the involvement of the CTD in mediating the input from multiple regulators could in part account for the fact that only RNAP II contains a CTD.
A curious feature of the CTD is its differential involvement in transcription from different promoters. In vitro transcription from the adenovirus-2 major late promoter, a TATA-containing promoter, is not dependent on the CTD whereas transcription from the murine dihydrofolate reductase promoter, a TATA-less promoter, is dependent on the CTD (13). The CTD appears to play a direct role in the recruitment of RNAP II in that a CTD-less RNAP II (RNAP IIB) does not assemble into a preinitiation complex on the dihydrofolate reductase promoter. The requirement for the CTD appears to correlate with the absence of a TATA element and may reflect a fundamental difference in the way transcription complexes assemble on different promoters (28).
Identification of Proteins That Interact with the Unphosphorylated CTD
Critical to our understanding of CTD function is an identification of proteins that make direct contact with the CTD and an understanding of how these interactions are influenced by phosphorylation of the CTD. The fact that mutations in SRB genes can restore wild-type phenotype to cells containing CTD truncations indicates that both the CTD and SRBs are involved in the same functional process. Furthermore, the mediator, which is thought to interact with RNAP II via the CTD, contains multiple SRBs. Although SRBs are prime candidates for CTD-interacting proteins, a direct biochemical interaction has not been reported. The CTD has, however, been shown to interact directly with TATA binding protein, the TATA binding subunit of TFIID (29). Protein cross-linking experiments have also established that the 74-kDa subunit of TFIIF and the 34-kDa subunit of TFIIE interact with the C terminus of the CTD (30). The CTD is an extended molecule and can potentially form interactions with multiple proteins.
Role of CTD Phosphorylation in Establishment of Elongation-competent Transcription Complex
The finding that phosphorylation of the CTD prevents RNAP II from assembling into a preinitiation complex and that there is a temporal relationship between promoter clearance and CTD phosphorylation led to the idea that phosphorylation is the trigger that releases RNAP II from the initiated complex. However, it is now clear that transcription from at least some promoters in defined in vitro systems is not dependent on CTD phosphorylation (31, 32). In less defined systems, transcription appears to be dependent on CTD kinase activity suggesting that CTD phosphorylation may be obligatory in vivo (33). Experiments have not been reported that would distinguish between a requirement based on the physical release of RNAP II from the initiated complex and a requirement for a phosphorylated CTD to establish a stable elongation complex. For example, in the latter case the highly phosphorylated CTD may destabilize nucleosomes, thereby facilitating the progression of RNAP II along the DNA template. Therefore, the possibility exists that CTD phosphorylation plays no direct role in the initiation process but is temporally correlated with initiation because it is essential for the formation of a competent elongation complex.
This idea is consistent with the finding that transcription complexes paused near the transcriptional start site on a number of Drosophila genes contain RNAP IIA (34). The induction of transcription and the release of RNAP II from the paused complex correlate with phosphorylation of the CTD. One possibility is that RNAP II is still tethered to proteins associated with the promoter by an extended CTD and phosphorylation triggers promoter clearance. Alternatively, RNAP II interactions with the promoter may have been disrupted, and phosphorylation is necessary to generate an elongation-competent form of the enzyme. Finally, the possibility that RNAP II was phosphorylated at the time of transcript initiation and subsequently dephosphorylated, resulting in a paused complex, cannot be excluded. An important question is whether or not the phosphate incorporated into the CTD during initiation turns over during transcript elongation. Interestingly, the establishment of a stable elongation complex in Drosophila is dependent on protein kinase activity as indicated by the observation that the production of long transcripts is prevented by the protein kinase inhibitor DRB (5,6-dichloro-1-β-D-ribofuranosylbenzimidazole) (35, 36, 37). Furthermore, the elongation factor P-TEFb (positive transcription elongation factor) has recently been found to be a CTD kinase.2 One interpretation of these results is that CTD kinase(s) acts on RNAP II at multiple steps in the transcription cycle. The CTD is phosphorylated at the time of transcript initiation by a CTD kinase that stably interacts with the preinitiation complex, most likely TFIIH. The phosphate incorporated into the CTD may be removed during the elongation process and, if not restored by CTD kinase, lead to RNAP II pausing. Alternatively, the act of pausing may trigger dephosphorylation of the CTD. It will be of considerable interest to know if phosphate turnover occurs during transcript elongation, whether or not the rate of turnover is gene-specific, and what the consequences of this turnover are on pausing and termination.
The CTD may also play a role in transcription-coupled nucleotide excision repair. Of special interest is the association of multiple DNA repair activities with CTD kinase in the general transcription factor TFIIH (38, 39, 40, 41). The observation that TFIIE and TFIIF interact with the unphosphorylated CTD and that TFIIE interacts directly with TFIIH provides a mechanism for the recruitment of TFIIH to RNAP II paused at DNA lesions (30, 42). Since transcript elongation is catalyzed by RNAP IIO, according to this model, an early step in repair would be dephosphorylation of the CTD. A CTD phosphatase has recently been purified from HeLa cells and shown to have regulatory properties consistent with such a function (43, 44). The subsequent recruitment of TFIIE and TFIIH to paused RNAP IIA would facilitate repair of the lesion and rephosphorylation of the CTD to regenerate an elongation-competent form of RNAP II.
CTD Kinases and CTD Phosphatase
A multiplicity of protein kinases actively phosphorylates the CTD of RNAP II or synthetic peptides containing the consensus repeat in vitro (3). However, it has been difficult to establish which of these enzymes phosphorylate RNAP II in vivo. A CTD kinase associated with TFIIH has emerged as a strong candidate for a physiological CTD kinase (38, 41, 45). This idea is supported by several observations. CTD kinase is intrinsic to TFIIH, a factor that appears to be involved in promoter clearance and hence functions in the transcription cycle at the time of CTD phosphorylation. The CTD kinase associated with TFIIH has recently been identified as the cyclin-dependent kinase (Cdk) MO15/Cdk-7 in vertebrates (46, 47) and KIN28 in yeast (38). KIN28 is required for RNA synthesis, and RNAP II phosphorylation is dramatically reduced at the restrictive temperature in a kin28-ts mutant (48). TFIIH from yeast has been fractionated into two forms, one involved in transcription and one in nucleotide excision repair (41, 45, 49). The TFIIH core is comprised of five subunits including RAD3, TFB1, and SSL1. The form that functions in transcription, designated holo-TFIIH, consists of the core in association with SSL2 and the two subunits of the TFIIH-associated CTD kinase, designated TFIIK (50).
A second CTD kinase known to assemble into the preinitiation complex is a cyclin-dependent kinase comprised of SRB10 and SRB11 (51). Although the in vitro phosphorylation of holo-RNAP II containing a srb10 mutant enzyme is reduced greater than 10-fold, the in vitro transcriptional activity of the mutant enzyme is unchanged. Nevertheless, the finding that the SRB10/11 kinase is essential for transcriptional activation by galactose in yeast suggests that this kinase plays a role in transcriptional regulation in vivo.
Multiple CTD kinases appear to be involved in the phosphorylation of RNAP II in vivo. This idea is supported by the observation that disruption of the largest subunit of a yeast CTD kinase, designated CTK1 and distinct from KIN28, results in a diminished level of RNAP II phosphorylation (52, 53). Therefore, RNAP II phosphorylation is diminished by a disruption in the activity of either KIN28 or CTK1. The possibility that certain putative CTD kinases function in vivo to regulate the activity of other protein kinases that phosphorylate the CTD cannot be excluded. Finally, the observation that the CTD can be phosphorylated on tyrosine suggests that multiple CTD kinases function in vivo (8). The physiological significance of multiple CTD kinases is not known. One possibility is that phosphorylation of the CTD plays an essential role in transcription, and redundancy has been built into the enzymes that catalyze this reaction. It is also possible that different promoters utilize different protein kinases and/or different protein kinases function at specific times in the transcription cycle. Finally, the observation that a unique form of RNAP IIO appears to be recruited to discrete nuclear domains when transcription is inhibited suggests that a specific CTD kinase(s) may influence the subnuclear localization of RNAP II (54).
A CTD phosphatase has been purified from a HeLa cell transcription extract and appears to selectively dephosphorylate the CTD of RNAP IIO (43, 44). The regulation of CTD phosphatase activity is complex and appears to involve an interaction of CTD phosphatase with a docking site on RNAP II that is distinct from the CTD (44). Furthermore, the activity of CTD phosphatase is stimulated by TFIIF, and the stimulatory activity of TFIIF is inhibited by TFIIB. These properties of CTD phosphatase are, therefore, consistent with the idea that it functions to dephosphorylate RNAP IIO upon completion of a transcript, thereby regenerating RNAP IIA for preinitiation complex formation (see Fig. 2). TFIIF is known to directly interact with RNAP II and to play a role in the recruitment of RNAP II to the preinitiation complex. Accordingly, the association of TFIIF with RNAP II upon completion of the transcript would stimulate the dephosphorylation reaction (see Fig. 2). Finally, TFIIB may suppress the stimulatory activity of TFIIF in the preinitiation complex, thereby preventing a futile cycle of CTD phosphorylation-dephosphorylation. Regulating access to the docking site on RNAP II by which CTD phosphatase gains access to the CTD may be important in regulating the dephosphorylation of RNAP II during the elongation phase of transcription.
Potential Regulatory Significance of CTD Phosphorylation
Since RNAP IIA and IIO have distinct roles in the transcription cycle, CTD kinases and CTD phosphatase can act as positive or negative regulators of transcription depending on the point in the transcription cycle at which they function. For example, phosphorylation of the CTD concomitant with transcript initiation might stimulate transcription whereas phosphorylation of free RNAP II would reduce the amount of RNAP IIA available for recruitment to the promoter and hence inhibit transcription. Conversely, CTD phosphatase that dephosphorylates RNAP II in the initiated or elongation complex may well inhibit transcription whereas dephosphorylation of RNAP IIO upon completion of the transcript would stimulate transcription. A major challenge is to not only enumerate the CTD kinase(s) and phosphatase(s) that modulate the level of RNAP II phosphorylation in vivo but to understand how these enzymes are regulated and the consequences they have on the activity of RNAP II at discrete steps in the transcription cycle.
Summary and Perspectives
The CTD of RNAP II is unusual with respect to both the high level of repetition of the consensus repeat and its high level of phosphorylation. The fact that each round of transcription is associated with the reversible phosphorylation of the CTD is consistent with the idea that RNAP IIA and IIO have distinct roles in the transcription cycle. Indeed, RNAP IIA has been shown to selectively assemble into preinitiation complexes on a number of promoters, whereas transcript elongation has been shown to be catalyzed by RNAP IIO. The precise role played by the unphosphorylated CTD during initiation and the phosphorylated CTD during elongation has not been established. The extended nature of the CTD and the multiplicity of proteins that appear to interact with core RNAP II via the CTD suggest that a primary function of the CTD during initiation may be to integrate the input from multiple GTFs and transcriptional regulators. Increasing evidence supports the idea that the phosphorylated CTD plays a positive role during transcript elongation, possibly by facilitating the progression of RNAP II through nucleosomes and/or mediating transcription-coupled splicing (55). A major goal of future studies is to characterize in detail the biochemical mechanisms that underlie the involvement of the CTD at discrete steps in the transcription cycle.
Although a multiplicity of CTD kinases have been described, it has not been easy to establish which of these is directly involved in the phosphorylation of RNAP II. The results are most consistent with the idea that multiple CTD kinases function in vivo. Apart from a clear definition of the role of specific CTD kinases, it will be important to know if different promoters recruit different CTD kinases and if the recruitment of CTD kinase can be an important step in the regulation of gene expression. Finally, the recent purification and characterization of a CTD phosphatase suggest that CTD dephosphorylation may also play an important role in the regulation of gene expression. It seems clear that an understanding of CTD function will be dependent on an understanding of the modifications that occur within the CTD and an understanding of the regulation of the enzymes that catalyze these modifications.
Acknowledgments
I thank Shari Blevins, Delphine Gerber, Brett Kaiser, Alan Lehman, Nick Marshall, and Tricia Marshall for critical reading of the manuscript.
Footnotes
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↵* This minireview will be reprinted in the 1996 Minireview Compendium, which will be available in December, 1996.
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↵1 The abbreviations used are:
- RNAP
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RNA polymerase
- CTD
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C-terminal domain
- GTF
-
general transcription factor
- SRB
-
suppressor of RNAP IIB.
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↵2 D. H. Price, personal communication.
- © 1996 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.
