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The localization of transcriptional activity in specialized transcription bodies is a hallmark of gene expression in eukaryotic cells. It remains unclear, however, if and how transcription bodies affect gene expression. Here we disrupted the formation of two prominent endogenous transcription bodies that mark the onset of zygotic transcription in zebrafish embryos and analysed the effect on gene expression using enriched SLAM-seq and live-cell imaging. We find that the disruption of transcription bodies results in the misregulation of hundreds of genes. Here we focus on genes that are upregulated. These genes have accessible chromatin and are poised to be transcribed in the presence of the two transcription bodies, but they do not go into elongation. Live-cell imaging shows that disruption of the two large transcription bodies enables these poised genes to be transcribed in ectopic transcription bodies, suggesting that the large transcription bodies sequester a pause release factor. Supporting this hypothesis, we find that CDK9—the kinase that releases paused polymerase II—is highly enriched in the two large transcription bodies. Overexpression of CDK9 in wild-type embryos results in the formation of ectopic transcription bodies and thus phenocopies the removal of the two large transcription bodies. Taken together, our results show that transcription bodies regulate transcription by sequestering machinery, thereby preventing genes elsewhere in the nucleus from being transcribed. Ugolini et al. show that transcription bodies regulate gene expression during zygotic genome activation in zebrafish development by sequestering CDK9 to limit the transcription of genes away from transcription bodies.

Key Points RNA polymerase II (Pol II) elongation is a highly regulated process. Regulation of transcription is often mediated at the level of promoter-proximal pausing of Pol II, in which Pol II is paused approximately 30–60 nucleotides downstream of the transcription start site (TSS) and awaits recruitment of kinase positive transcription elongation factor-b (P-TEFb). P-TEFb is the main factor required to release paused Pol II from the promoter-proximal region, and can directly or indirectly be recruited by many factors, including bromodomain-containing protein 4 (BRD4) and the super elongation complex (SEC). Elongation rates throughout the gene body are not uniform but vary between, and within genes, and can range from ∼1 to 6 kb per minute. Transient slowdown of Pol II is observed up to 15 kb downstream of the TSS, at exons and near the poly(A) cleavage site. Elongation rates can affect co-transcriptional RNA processes such as splicing and termination, as well as genome stability. Pausing of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) in promoter-proximal regions and its release to initiate productive elongation are key steps in the regulation of transcription, and involve many factors. Evidence is now emerging that transcriptional elongation is highly dynamic. Elongation rates vary between genes and across the length of a gene, affecting splicing, termination and genome stability. Recent advances in sequencing techniques that measure nascent transcripts and that reveal the positioning of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) have shown that the pausing of Pol II in promoter-proximal regions and its release to initiate a phase of productive elongation are key steps in transcription regulation. Moreover, after the release of Pol II from the promoter-proximal region, elongation rates are highly dynamic throughout the transcription of a gene, and vary on a gene-by-gene basis. Interestingly, Pol II elongation rates affect co-transcriptional processes such as splicing, termination and genome stability. Increasing numbers of factors and regulatory mechanisms have been associated with the steps of transcription elongation by Pol II, revealing that elongation is a highly complex process. Elongation is thus now recognized as a key phase in the regulation of transcription by Pol II.

Germ cells are the only cells that transmit genetic information to the next generation, and they therefore must be prevented from differentiating inappropriately into somatic cells. A common mechanism by which germline progenitors are protected from differentiation-inducing signals is a transient and global repression of RNA polymerase II (RNAPII)-dependent transcription. In both Drosophila and Caenorhabditis elegans embryos, the repression of messenger RNA transcription during germ cell specification correlates with an absence of phosphorylation of Ser 2 residues in the carboxy-terminal domain of RNAPII (hereafter called CTD), a critical modification for transcriptional elongation. Here we show that, in Drosophila embryos, a small protein encoded by polar granule component (pgc) is essential for repressing CTD Ser 2 phosphorylation in newly formed pole cells, the germline progenitors. Ectopic Pgc expression in somatic cells is sufficient to repress CTD Ser 2 phosphorylation. Furthermore, Pgc interacts, physically and genetically, with positive transcription elongation factor b (P-TEFb), the CTD Ser 2 kinase complex, and prevents its recruitment to transcription sites. These results indicate that Pgc is a cell-type-specific P-TEFb inhibitor that has a fundamental role in Drosophila germ cell specification. In C. elegans embryos, PIE-1 protein segregates to germline blastomeres, and is thought to repress mRNA transcription through interaction with P-TEFb. Thus, inhibition of P-TEFb is probably a common mechanism during germ cell specification in the disparate organisms C. elegans and Drosophila.

Molecular mechanisms for the establishment of transcriptional memory are poorly understood. 5,6-dichloro-1-D-ribofuranosyl-benzimidazole (DRB) is a P-TEFb kinase inhibitor that artificially induces the poised RNA polymerase II (RNAPII), thereby manifesting intermediate steps for the establishment of transcriptional activation. Here, using genetics and DRB, we show that mammalian Absent, small, or homeotic discs 1-like (Ash1l), a member of the trithorax group proteins, methylates Lys36 of histone H3 to promote the establishment of Hox gene expression by counteracting Polycomb silencing. Importantly, we found that Ash1l-dependent Lys36 di-, tri-methylation of histone H3 in a coding region and exclusion of Polycomb group proteins occur independently of transcriptional elongation in embryonic stem (ES) cells, although both were previously thought to be consequences of transcription. Genome-wide analyses of histone H3 Lys36 methylation under DRB treatment have suggested that binding of the retinoic acid receptor (RAR) to a certain genomic region promotes trimethylation in the RAR-associated gene independent of its ongoing transcription. Moreover, DRB treatment unveils a parallel response between Lys36 methylation of histone H3 and occupancy of either Tip60 or Mof in a region-dependent manner. We also found that Brg1 is another key player involved in the response. Our results uncover a novel regulatory cascade orchestrated by Ash1l with RAR and provide insights into mechanisms underlying the establishment of the transcriptional activation that counteracts Polycomb silencing.

The Herpes Simplex Virus 1 (HSV-1)-encoded ICP22 protein plays an important role in viral infection and affects expression of host cell genes. ICP22 is known to reduce the global level of serine (Ser)2 phosphorylation of the Tyr1Ser2Pro3Thr4Ser5Pro6Ser7 heptapeptide repeats comprising the carboxy-terminal domain (CTD) of the large subunit of RNA polymerase (pol) II. Accordingly, ICP22 is thought to associate with and inhibit the activity of the positive-transcription elongation factor b (P-TEFb) pol II CTD Ser2 kinase. We show here that ICP22 causes loss of CTD Ser2 phosphorylation from pol II engaged in transcription of protein-coding genes following ectopic expression in HeLa cells and that recombinant ICP22 interacts with the CDK9 subunit of recombinant P-TEFb. ICP22 also interacts with pol II in vitro. Residues 193 to 256 of ICP22 are sufficient for interaction with CDK9 and inhibition of pol II CTD Ser2 phosphorylation but do not interact with pol II. These results indicate that discrete regions of ICP22 interact with either CDK9 or pol II and that ICP22 interacts directly with CDK9 to inhibit expression of host cell genes.

The positive transcription elongation factor b (P-TEFb) is involved in physiological and pathological events including inflammation, cancer, AIDS, and cardiac hypertrophy. The balance between its active and inactive form is tightly controlled to ensure cellular integrity. We report that the transcriptional repressor CTIP2 is a major modulator of P-TEFb activity. CTIP2 copurifies and interacts with an inactive P-TEFb complex containing the 7SK snRNA and HEXIM1. CTIP2 associates directly with HEXIM1 and, via the loop 2 of the 7SK snRNA, with P-TEFb. In this nucleoprotein complex, CTIP2 significantly represses the Cdk9 kinase activity of P-TEFb. Accordingly, we show that CTIP2 inhibits large sets of P-TEFb- and 7SK snRNA-sensitive genes. In hearts of hypertrophic cardiomyopathic mice, CTIP2 controls P-TEFb-sensitive pathways involved in the establishment of this pathology. Overexpression of the β-myosin heavy chain protein contributes to the pathological cardiac wall thickening. The inactive P-TEFb complex associates with CTIP2 at the MYH7 gene promoter to repress its activity. Taken together, our results strongly suggest that CTIP2 controls P-TEFb function in physiological and pathological conditions.

Repression of somatic gene expression in germline progenitors is one of the critical mechanisms involved in establishing the germ/soma dichotomy. In Drosophila, the maternal Nanos (Nos) and Polar granule component (Pgc) proteins are required for repression of somatic gene expression in the primordial germ cells, or pole cells. Pgc suppresses RNA polymerase II-dependent global transcription in pole cells, but it remains unclear how Nos represses somatic gene expression. Here, we show that Nos represses somatic gene expression by inhibiting translation of maternal importin-α2 (impα2) mRNA. Mis-expression of Impα2 caused aberrant nuclear import of a transcriptional activator, Ftz-F1, which in turn activated a somatic gene, fushi tarazu (ftz), in pole cells when Pgc-dependent transcriptional repression was impaired. Because ftz expression was not fully activated in pole cells in the absence of either Nos or Pgc, we propose that Nos-dependent repression of nuclear import of transcriptional activator(s) and Pgc-dependent suppression of global transcription act as a 'double-lock' mechanism to inhibit somatic gene expression in germline progenitors.

The positive transcription elongation factor b (P‐TEFb) plays a pivotal role in productive elongation of nascent RNA molecules by RNA polymerase II. Core active P‐TEFb is composed of CDK9 and cyclin T. In addition, mammalian cell extracts contain an inactive P‐TEFb complex composed of four components, CDK9, cyclin T, the 7SK snRNA and the MAQ1/HEXIM1 protein. We now report an in vitro reconstitution of 7SK‐dependent HEXIM1 association to purified P‐TEFb and subsequent CDK9 inhibition. Yeast three‐hybrid tests and gel‐shift assays indicated that HEXIM1 binds 7SK snRNA directly and a 7SK snRNA‐recognition motif was identified in the central part of HEXIM1 (amino acids (aa) 152–155). Data from yeast two‐hybrid and pull‐down assay on GST fusion proteins converge to a direct binding of P‐TEFb to the HEXIM1 C‐terminal domain (aa 181–359). Consistently, point mutations in an evolutionarily conserved motif (aa 202–205) were found to suppress P‐TEFb binding and inhibition without affecting 7SK recognition. We propose that the RNA‐binding domain of HEXIM1 mediates its association with 7SK and that P‐TEFb then enters the complex through association with HEXIM1.

Background Splicing factors are vital for the regulation of RNA splicing, but some have also been implicated in regulating transcription. The underlying molecular mechanisms of their involvement in transcriptional processes remain poorly understood. Results Here, we describe a direct role of splicing factor RBM22 in coordinating multiple steps of RNA Polymerase II (RNAPII) transcription in human cells. The RBM22 protein widely occupies the RNAPII-transcribed gene locus in the nucleus. Loss of RBM22 promotes RNAPII pause release, reduces elongation velocity, and provokes transcriptional readthrough genome-wide, coupled with production of transcripts containing sequences from downstream of the gene. RBM22 preferentially binds to the hyperphosphorylated, transcriptionally engaged RNAPII and coordinates its dynamics by regulating the homeostasis of the 7SK-P-TEFb complex and the association between RNAPII and SPT5 at the chromatin level. Conclusions Our results uncover the multifaceted role of RBM22 in orchestrating the transcriptional program of RNAPII and provide evidence implicating a splicing factor in both RNAPII elongation kinetics and termination control.