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Query: EC:2.7.7.6 (RNA polymerase)
34,946 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

The elongation phase of eukaryotic transcription by RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) is an important target for regulation of gene expression. An interplay of positive and negative elongation factors determines the elongation activity of RNAPII in different promoters. The phosphorylation status of the carboxyl-terminal-domain (CTD) of the larger subunit of RNAPII appears to be the regulatory focus of different factors regulating mRNA processivity. The emerging model of the transcription cycle proposes that the phosphorylation state of the CTD is dynamic during elongation with different forms predominating at different stages of transcription. Shortly after initiation RNA polymerase II comes under the control of negative elongation factors and enters abortive elongation. Escape from the action of these negative controls requires the action of at least one positive elongation factor identified in the P-TEFb complex composed of the Cyclin-Dependent Kinase CDK9 and its regulatory subunit cyclin T. Finally, the requirement of CTD phosphatase activity, identified in the FCP1 protein, has been invoked as necessary to recycle the hypophosphorylated form of the RNA polymerase II competent to reinitiate the transcription cycle.
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PMID:Control of RNA polymerase II activity by dedicated CTD kinases and phosphatases. 1157 67

CDK9 paired with cyclin T1 forms the human P-TEFb complex and stimulates productive transcription through phosphorylation of the RNA polymerase II C-terminal domain. Here we report that CDK9 is ubiquitinated and degraded by the proteasome whereas cyclin T1 is stable. SCF(SKP2) was recruited to CDK9/cyclin T1 via cyclin T1 in an interaction requiring its PEST domain. CDK9 ubiquitination was modulated by cyclin T1 and p45(SKP2). CDK9 accumulated in p45(SKP2-/-) cells, and its expression during the cell cycle was periodic. The transcriptional activity of CDK9/cyclin T1 on the class II major histocompatibility complex promoter could be regulated by CDK9 degradation in vivo. We propose a novel mechanism whereby recruitment of SCF(SKP2) is mediated by cyclin T1 while ubiquitination occurs exclusively on CDK9.
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PMID:Interaction between cyclin T1 and SCF(SKP2) targets CDK9 for ubiquitination and degradation by the proteasome. 1168 88

The human positive transcription elongation factor P-TEFb, consisting of a CDK9/cyclin T1 heterodimer, functions as both a general and an HIV-1 Tat-specific transcription factor. P-TEFb activates transcription by phosphorylating RNA polymerase (Pol) II, leading to the formation of processive elongation complexes. As a Tat cofactor, P-TEFb stimulates HIV-1 transcription by interacting with Tat and the transactivating responsive (TAR) RNA structure located at the 5' end of the nascent viral transcript. Here we identified 7SK, an abundant and evolutionarily conserved small nuclear RNA (snRNA) of unknown function, as a specific P-TEFb-associated factor. 7SK inhibits general and HIV-1 Tat-specific transcriptional activities of P-TEFb in vivo and in vitro by inhibiting the kinase activity of CDK9 and preventing recruitment of P-TEFb to the HIV-1 promoter. 7SK is efficiently dissociated from P-TEFb by treatment of cells with ultraviolet irradiation and actinomycin D. As these two agents have been shown to significantly enhance HIV-1 transcription and phosphorylation of Pol II (refs 6,7,8), our data provide a mechanistic explanation for their stimulatory effects. The 7SK/P-TEFb interaction may serve as a principal control point for the induction of cellular and HIV-1 viral gene expression during stress-related responses. Our studies demonstrate the involvement of an snRNA in controlling the activity of a Cdk-cyclin kinase.
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PMID:The 7SK small nuclear RNA inhibits the CDK9/cyclin T1 kinase to control transcription. 1171 32

The transcription of eukaryotic protein-coding genes involves complex regulation of RNA polymerase (Pol) II activity in response to physiological conditions and developmental cues. One element of this regulation involves phosphorylation of the carboxy-terminal domain (CTD) of the largest polymerase subunit by a transcription elongation factor, P-TEFb, which comprises the kinase CDK9 and cyclin T1 or T2 (ref. 1). Here we report that in human HeLa cells more than half of the P-TEFb is sequestered in larger complexes that also contain 7SK RNA, an abundant, small nuclear RNA (snRNA) of hitherto unknown function. P-TEFb and 7SK associate in a specific and reversible manner. In contrast to the smaller P-TEFb complexes, which have a high kinase activity, the larger 7SK/P-TEFb complexes show very weak kinase activity. Inhibition of cellular transcription by chemical agents or ultraviolet irradiation trigger the complete disruption of the P-TEFb/7SK complex, and enhance CDK9 activity. The transcription-dependent interaction of P-TEFb with 7SK may therefore contribute to an important feedback loop modulating the activity of RNA Pol II.
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PMID:7SK small nuclear RNA binds to and inhibits the activity of CDK9/cyclin T complexes. 1171 33

The human immunodeficiency virus type 1 (HIV-1) Tat protein activates transcription elongation by stimulating the Tat-activated kinase (TAK/p-TEFb), a protein kinase composed of CDK9 and its cyclin partner, cyclin T1. CDK9 is able to hyperphosphorylate the carboxyl-terminal domain (CTD) of the large subunit of RNA polymerase during elongation. In addition to TAK, the transcription elongation factor Spt5 is required for the efficient activation of transcriptional elongation by Tat. To study the role of Spt5 in HIV transcription in more detail, we have developed a three-stage Tat-dependent transcription assay that permits the isolation of active preinitiation complexes, early-stage elongation complexes, and Tat-activated elongation complexes. Spt5 is recruited in the transcription complex shortly after initiation. After recruitment of Tat during elongation through the transactivation response element RNA, CDK9 is activated and induces hyperphosphorylation of Spt5 in parallel to the hyperphosphorylation of the CTD of RNA polymerase II. However, immunodepletion experiments demonstrate that Spt5 is not required for Tat-dependent activation of the kinase. Chase experiments using the Spt5-depleted extracts demonstrate that Spt5 is not required for early elongation. However, Spt5 plays an important role in late elongation by preventing the premature dissociation of RNA from the transcription complex at terminator sequences and reducing the amount of polymerase pausing at arrest sites, including bent DNA sequences. This novel biochemical function of Spt5 is analogous to the function of NusG, an elongation factor found in Escherichia coli that enhances RNA polymerase stability on templates and shows sequence similarity to Spt5.
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PMID:Spt5 cooperates with human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Tat by preventing premature RNA release at terminator sequences. 1180

Tat is a key trans-activator of HIV-1 gene transcription and major progress has been accomplished in recent years in regard to understanding its mechanism of action. An important breakthrough was the identification of the TAR-Tat-Cyclin (Cyc) T1-Cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (CDK9) complex, in which CDK9 can hyperphosphorylate the carboxyl-terminus domain (CTD) of the RNA polymerase (RNAP) II complex. A different activity of Tat has recently been identified in reverse transcription. Notably, mutated HIV-1 that lacks a functional Tat protein cannot efficiently generate reverse transcription products following infection of permissive cells. Furthermore, Tat can also inhibit reverse transcriptase activity in cell-free assays and can act as a suppressor of reverse transcription at late stages in the viral life cycle. This suppressor activity of Tat can restrict the premature reverse transcription of viral RNA in the cytoplasm and allows the viral genome to be packaged as intact RNA molecules.
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PMID:The role of Tat in HIV-1 replication: an activator and/or a suppressor? 1199 84

HIV-1 Tat protein regulates viral gene expression by modulating the activity and association of cellular transcription factors with RNA polymerase II (RNAPII). Possible mechanisms include Tat-associated protein kinase(s) and phosphatase(s) that regulate phosphorylation of the C-terminal domain (CTD) of the large subunit of RNAPII. Hypophosphorylated RNAPII (RNAPIIa) is recruited to promoters during formation of a preinitiation complex, whereas hyperphosphorylated RNAPII (RNAPIIo) is associated with the elongation complex. The role of phosphatases in maintaining the equilibrium between the two phosphorylated states of RNAPII, which is required for sustained transcriptional activation from the HIV-1 LTR, is not clear. In this study, we discuss the properties of a Tat-associated CTD phosphatase fractionated from Jurkat T cells. The Tat-associated protein phosphatase (TAPP) is related to the serine/threonine, type 1, protein phosphatase (PP1) family. TAPP dephosphorylates the hyperphosphorylated form of recombinant CTD specifically on serine 2, and augments Tat-mediated transcriptional transactivation of HIV-1 LTR in an in vitro transcription reaction. TAPP is associated with the transcription complex during the early initiation steps, and its release from the HIV-1 promoter coincides with the Tat-specific activation of CDK9. The results suggest a unique role of the Tat-associated phosphatase which regulates viral transcription by target-specific dephosphorylation of RNAPII during the early stages of elongation.
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PMID:A protein phosphatase from human T cells augments tat transactivation of the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 long-terminal repeat. 1203 13

HIV-1 gene expression is regulated by a viral transactivator protein (Tat) which induces transcriptional elongation of HIV-1 long tandem repeat (LTR). This induction requires hyperphosphorylation of the C-terminal domain (CTD) repeats of RNA polymerase II (Pol II). To achieve CTD hyperphosphorylation, Tat stimulates CTD kinases associated with general transcription factors of the promoter complex, specifically TFIIH-associated CDK7 and positive transcription factor b-associated CDK9 (cyclin-dependent kinase 9). Other studies indicate that Tat may bind an additional CTD kinase that regulates the target-specific phosphorylation of RNA Pol II CTD. We previously reported that Tat-associated T-cell-derived kinase (TTK), purified from human primary T-cells, stimulates Tat-dependent transcription of HIV-1 LTR in vivo [Nekhai, Shukla, Fernandez, Kumar and Lamb (2000) Virology 266, 246-256]. In the work presented here, we characterized the components of TTK by biochemical fractionation and the function of TTK in transcription assays in vitro. TTK uniquely co-purified with CDK2 and not with either CDK9 or CDK7. Tat induced the TTK-associated CDK2 kinase to phosphorylate CTD, specifically at Ser-2 residues. The TTK fraction restored Tat-mediated transcription activation of HIV-1 LTR in a HeLa nuclear extract immunodepleted of CDK9, but not in the HeLa nuclear extract double-depleted of CDK9 and CDK7. Direct microinjection of the TTK fraction augmented Tat transactivation of HIV-1 LTR in human primary HS68 fibroblasts. The results argue that TTK-associated CDK2 may function to maintain target-specific phosphorylation of RNA Pol II that is essential for Tat transactivation of HIV-1 promoter. They are also consistent with the observed cell-cycle-specific induction of viral gene transactivation.
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PMID:HIV-1 Tat-associated RNA polymerase C-terminal domain kinase, CDK2, phosphorylates CDK7 and stimulates Tat-mediated transcription. 1204 28

Stimulation of transcriptional elongation by the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Tat protein is mediated by CDK9, a kinase that phosphorylates the RNA polymerase II carboxyl-terminal domain (CTD). In order to obtain direct evidence that this phosphorylation event can alter RNA polymerase processivity, we prepared transcription elongation complexes that were arrested by the lac repressor. The CTD was then dephosphorylated by treatment with protein phosphatase 1. The dephosphorylated transcription complexes were able to resume the transcription elongation when IPTG (isopropyl-beta-D-thiogalactopyranoside) and nucleotides were added to the reaction. Under these chase conditions, efficient rephosphorylation of the CTD was observed in complexes containing the Tat protein but not in transcription complexes prepared in the absence of Tat protein. Immunoblots and kinase assays with synthetic peptides showed that Tat activated CDK9 directly since the enzyme and its cyclin partner, cyclin T1, were present at equivalent levels in transcription complexes prepared in the presence or absence of Tat. Chase experiments with the dephosphorylated elongation transcription complexes were performed in the presence of the CDK9 kinase inhibitor DRB (5,6-dichloro-1-beta-D-ribofuranosyl-benzimidazole). Under these conditions there was no rephosphorylation of the CTD during elongation, and transcription through either a stem-loop terminator or bent DNA arrest sequence was strongly inhibited. In experiments in which the CTD was phosphorylated prior to elongation, the amount of readthrough of the terminator sequences was proportional to the extent of the CTD modification. The change in processivity is due to CTD phosphorylation alone, since even after the removal of Spt5, the second substrate for CDK9, RNA polymerase elongation is enhanced by Tat-activated CDK9 activity. We conclude that phosphorylation of the RNA polymerase II CTD by CDK9 enhances transcription elongation directly.
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PMID:Phosphorylation of the RNA polymerase II carboxyl-terminal domain by CDK9 is directly responsible for human immunodeficiency virus type 1 Tat-activated transcriptional elongation. 1205 71

Flavopiridol has been shown to potently inhibit CDK1 and 2 (cyclin-dependent kinases 1 and 2) and most recently it has been found that it also inhibits CDK9. The complex CDK9-cyclin T1 controls the elongation phase of transcription by RNA polymerase II. The present work describes a molecular model for the binary complex CDK9-flavopiridol. This structural model indicates that the inhibitor strongly binds to the ATP-binding pocket of CDK9 and the structural comparison of the complex CDK2-flavopiridol correlates the structural differences with differences in inhibition of these CDKs by flavopiridol. This structure opens the possibility of testing new inhibitor families, in addition to new substituents for the already known leading structures such as flavones and adenine derivatives.
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PMID:Structural basis for inhibition of cyclin-dependent kinase 9 by flavopiridol. 1205 39


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