MYC and Transcription Elongation

MYC and transcription elongation.

Most transcription factors specify the subset of genes that will be actively transcribed in the cell by stimulating transcription initiation at these genes, but MYC has a fundamentally different role. MYC binds E-box sites in the promoters of active genes and stimulates recruitment of the elongation factor P-TEFb and thus transcription elongation. Consequently, rather than specifying the set of...

Transcription elongation

CDK9-mediated transcription elongation is required for MYC addiction in hepatocellular carcinoma.

One-year survival rates for newly diagnosed hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) are <50%, and unresectable HCC carries a dismal prognosis owing to its aggressiveness and the undruggable nature of its main genetic drivers. By screening a custom library of shRNAs directed toward known drug targets in a genetically defined Myc-driven HCC model, we identified cyclin-dependent kinase 9 (Cdk9) as required...

SnapShot: Transcription Elongation

Transcription elongation is a key regulatory step in gene expression that is controlled by many proteins, and mechanisms, ranging from RNA Polymerase II pausing to cotranscriptional histone modifications.

Single molecule transcription elongation.

Single molecule optical trapping assays have now been applied to a great number of macromolecular systems including DNA, RNA, cargo motors, restriction enzymes, DNA helicases, chromosome remodelers, DNA polymerases and both viral and bacterial RNA polymerases. The advantages of the technique are the ability to observe dynamic, unsynchronized molecular processes, to determine the distributions o...