Reference - PMID:34352089 - Co-transcriptional RNA cleavage by Drosha homolog Pac1 triggers transcription termination in fission yeast.

Reference summary

PubMed ID

PMID:34352089

Title

Co-transcriptional RNA cleavage by Drosha homolog Pac1 triggers transcription termination in fission yeast.

Authors

Yague-Sanz C, Duval M, Larochelle M, Bachand F

Citation

Nucleic Acids Res 2021 Sep 07;49(15):8610-8624

Publication year

2021

Abstract

Transcription termination of protein-coding genes in eukaryotic cells usually relies on a tight coordination between the cleavage and polyadenylation of the pre-mRNA, and 5'-3' degradation of the downstream nascent transcript. Here we investigated the contribution of the essential fission yeast endonuclease Pac1, a homolog of human Drosha that cleaves hairpin RNA structures, in triggering polyadenylation-independent transcription termination. Using ChIP-sequencing in Pac1-deficient cells, we found that Pac1 triggers transcription termination at snRNA and snoRNA genes as well as at specific protein-coding genes. Notably, we found that Pac1-dependent premature termination occurred at two genes encoding conserved transmembrane transporters whose expression were strongly repressed by Pac1. Analysis by genome editing indicated that a stem-loop structure in the nascent transcript directs Pac1-mediated cleavage and that the regions upstream and downstream of the Pac1 cleavage site in the targeted mRNAs were stabilized by mutation of nuclear 3'-5' and 5'-3' exonucleases, respectively. Our findings unveil a premature transcription termination pathway that uncouples co-transcriptional RNA cleavage from polyadenylation, triggering rapid nuclear RNA degradation.

Annotation