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. 2024 Dec 19;84(24):4790-4807.e11.
doi: 10.1016/j.molcel.2024.10.012. Epub 2024 Nov 5.

Redundant pathways for removal of defective RNA polymerase II complexes at a promoter-proximal pause checkpoint

Daniel Blears  1 , Jiangman Lou  2 , Nova Fong  3 , Richard Mitter  4 , Ryan M Sheridan  3 , Dandan He  2 , A Barbara Dirac-Svejstrup  2 , David Bentley  3 , Jesper Q Svejstrup  5
Affiliations

Redundant pathways for removal of defective RNA polymerase II complexes at a promoter-proximal pause checkpoint

Daniel Blears et al. Mol Cell. .

Abstract

The biological purpose of Integrator and RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) promoter-proximal pausing remains uncertain. Here, we show that loss of INTS6 in human cells results in increased interaction of RNAPII with proteins that can mediate its dissociation from the DNA template, including the CRL3ARMC5 E3 ligase, which ubiquitylates CTD serine5-phosphorylated RPB1 for degradation. ARMC5-dependent RNAPII ubiquitylation is activated by defects in factors acting at the promoter-proximal pause, including Integrator, DSIF, and capping enzyme. This ARMC5 checkpoint normally curtails a sizeable fraction of RNAPII transcription, and ARMC5 knockout cells produce more uncapped transcripts. When both the Integrator and CRL3ARMC5 turnover mechanisms are compromised, cell growth ceases and RNAPII with high pausing propensity disperses from the promoter-proximal pause site into the gene body. These data support a model in which CRL3ARMC5 functions alongside Integrator in a checkpoint mechanism that removes faulty RNAPII complexes at promoter-proximal pause sites to safeguard transcription integrity.

Keywords: ARMC5; CTD phosphorylation; CUL3; DRB; DSIF; INTS6; Integrator; NELF; RNA polymerase II; RNGTT; RPB1; TFIIH kinase; TFIIS; TT-seq; eNET-seq; mRNA capping; nascent transcription; pTEFb kinase; promoter-proximal pausing; protein phosphatase 2A; senataxin.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of interests The authors declare no competing interests.

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