1. RNA polymerase II-binding aptamers in human ACRO1 satellites disrupt transcription
- Author
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Frederike von Pelchrzim, Maximilian Radtke, Renée Schroeder, Marek Żywicki, Theres Friesacher, Doris Chen, Jennifer L. Boots, Adam Weiss, Bob Zimmermann, Bojan Zagrovic, and Katarzyna Matylla-Kulinska
- Subjects
regulatory RNAs ,Transcription, Genetic ,repeats ,RNA polymerase II ,Retrotransposon ,Biochemistry ,03 medical and health sciences ,chemistry.chemical_compound ,0302 clinical medicine ,Transcription (biology) ,Genetics ,Transcriptional regulation ,Gene silencing ,Humans ,RNA aptamers ,Gene ,030304 developmental biology ,0303 health sciences ,Binding Sites ,biology ,Chemistry ,RNA ,Aptamers, Nucleotide ,Cell biology ,silencing ,biology.protein ,Transcription ,030217 neurology & neurosurgery ,DNA ,Biotechnology ,Research Article - Abstract
Transcription elongation is a highly regulated process affected by many proteins, RNAs and the underlying DNA. Here we show that the nascent RNA can interfere with transcription in human cells, extending our previous findings from bacteria and yeast. We identified a variety of Pol II-binding aptamers (RAPs), prominent in repeat elements such as ACRO1 satellites, LINE1 retrotransposons and CA simple repeats, and also in several protein-coding genes. ACRO1 repeat, when translated in silico, exhibits ~50% identity with the Pol II CTD sequence. Taken together with a recent proposal that proteins in general tend to interact with RNAs similar to their cognate mRNAs, this suggests a mechanism for RAP binding. Using a reporter construct, we show that ACRO1 potently inhibits Pol II elongation in cis. We propose a novel mode of transcriptional regulation in humans, in which the nascent RNA binds Pol II to silence its own expression.
- Published
- 2020