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. 2018;9(3):182-189.
doi: 10.1080/21541264.2017.1381794. Epub 2017 Nov 3.

Spurious transcription and its impact on cell function

Joseph T Wade  1   2 , David C Grainger  3
Affiliations

Spurious transcription and its impact on cell function

Joseph T Wade et al. Transcription. 2018.

Abstract

Most RNA polymerases can initiate transcription from diverse DNA template sequences with relatively few outright sequence restraints. Recent reports have demonstrated that failure to subdue the promiscuity of RNA polymerase in vivo can severely impede cell function. This phenomenon appears common to all cell types with undesirable effects ranging from growth inhibition in prokaryotes to cancer in higher organisms. Here we discuss similarities and differences in strategies employed by cells to minimise spurious transcription across life's domains.

Keywords: E. coli; H-NS; RNA polymerase; S. cerevisiae; S. pombe; cancer.

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Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Prokaryotes and eukaryotes use analogous mechanisms to prevent spurious transcription. The DNA is shown as an orange line with genes and promoters represented by block and bent arrows respectively. All other components are individually labelled. (A) In prokaryotic cells, the Histone-like nucleoid structuring protein (H-NS) can supress the activity of spurious promoters within genes, and can impede transcription elongation. If the elongating RNA polymerase complex includes a spurious non-coding transcript, transcription is often subject to premature termination by Rho. Resulting transcripts can be degraded by RNases. (B) In eukaryotic cells, nucleosomes can impede access to spurious promoters. The repressive properties of nucleosomes can be enhanced by methyltransferase proteins such as Set2 (in yeast) or SetD2 (in metazoa) act on histone H3 residue K36. The yeast Nrd1-Nab3-Sen1 (NNS) complex recognises spurious RNAs, by virtue of their different sequence properties, and can prematurely terminate transcription elongation. The cleavage and polyadenylation specificity factor (CPSF) is a multiprotein complex and recognises poly(A) sites. Ultimately, such transcripts can be degraded by the exosome.
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