A global change in RNA polymerase II pausing during the Drosophila midblastula transition
Open Access
- 13 August 2013
- journal article
- research article
- Published by eLife Sciences Publications, Ltd in eLife
- Vol. 2, e00861
Abstract
Massive zygotic transcription begins in many organisms during the midblastula transition when the cell cycle of the dividing egg slows down. A few genes are transcribed before this stage but how this differential activation is accomplished is still an open question. We have performed ChIP-seq experiments on tightly staged Drosophila embryos and show that massive recruitment of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) with widespread pausing occurs de novo during the midblastula transition. However, ∼100 genes are strongly occupied by Pol II before this timepoint and most of them do not show Pol II pausing, consistent with a requirement for rapid transcription during the fast nuclear cycles. This global change in Pol II pausing correlates with distinct core promoter elements and associates a TATA-enriched promoter with the rapid early transcription. This suggests that promoters are differentially used during the zygotic genome activation, presumably because they have distinct dynamic properties.Keywords
Funding Information
- National Institutes of Health New Innovator Award (1DP2 OD004561-01)
- Pew Charitable Trust
- National Institutes of Health (1DP2 OD004561-01)
- Pew Charitable Trust
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