Name: artificial rna polymerase ii elongation complexes for dissecting co-transcriptional rna processing events
Uploaded: 2019-05-13T14:00:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Artificial RNA Polymerase II Elongation Complexes for Dissecting Co-transcriptional RNA Processing Events at JoVE.com

We thank S. Shuman for providing the mammalian capping enzyme cDNA. This work was supported in part by a grant to the Stowers Institute for Medical Research from the Helen Nelson Medical Research Fund at the Greater Kansas City Community Foundation.&#160;&#160;Original data underlying this manuscript can be accessed from the Stowers Original Data Repository at http://www.stowers.org/research/publications/libpb-1434.

1. Assembly of Artificial Elongation Complexes and Pol II Walking
<ol>
	<li>Immobilize 1 nmol of non-template DNA oligo containing a 3&#8217; biotin molecule on magnetic beads. 
	NOTE: The following steps can be done in advance to prepare for future experiments. All oligo sequences used in this protocol are provided in Table 1. RNA oligos are synthesized with 5&#8217;-triphosphate modifications.
	<ol>
		<li>Add 200 &#181;L of magnetic beads (10 mg/mL) to a low-protein binding 1.5 ...

<ol>
	<li>Liu, X., Bushnell, D. A., Kornberg, R. D. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=RNA+polymerase+II+transcription:+structure+and+mechanism.">RNA polymerase II transcription: structure and mechanism.</a> Biochimica et Biophysica Acta. 1829 (1), 2-8 (2013).</li><li>Daube, S. S., von Hippel, P. H. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Functional+transcription+elongation+complexes+from+synthetic+RNA-DNA+bubble+duplexes.">Functional transcription elongation complexes from synthetic RNA-DNA bubble duplexes.</a> Science. 258, 1320-1324 (1992).</li><li>Kireeva, M. L., Komissarova, N., Waugh, D. S., Kashlev, M. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=The+8-nucleotide-long+RNA:DNA+hybrid+is+a+primary+stability+determinant+of+the+RNA+polymerase+II+elongation+complex.">The 8-nucleotide-long RNA:DNA hybrid is a primary stability determinant of the RNA polymerase II elongation complex.</a> Journal of Biological Chemistry. 275 (9), 6530-6536 (2000).</li><li>Kellinger, M. W., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=5-formylcytosine+and+5-carboxylcytosine+reduce+the+rate+and+substrate+specificity+of+RNA+polymerase+II+transcription.">5-formylcytosine and 5-carboxylcytosine reduce the rate and substrate specificity of RNA polymerase II transcription.</a> Nature Structural and Molecular Biology. 19 (8), 831-833 (2012).</li><li>Noe Gonzalez, M., Sato, S., Tomomori-Sato, C., Conaway, J. W., Conaway, R. C. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=CTD-dependent+and+-independent+mechanisms+govern+co-transcriptional+capping+of+Pol+II+transcripts.">CTD-dependent and -independent mechanisms govern co-transcriptional capping of Pol II transcripts.</a> Nature Communications. 9 (1), 3392 (2018).</li><li>Topisirovic, I., Svitkin, Y. V., Sonenberg, N., Shatkin, A. J. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Cap+and+cap-binding+proteins+in+the+control+of+gene+expression.">Cap and cap-binding proteins in the control of gene expression.</a> Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews. RNA. 2 (2), 277-298 (2011).</li><li>Ramanathan, A., Robb, G. B., Chan, S. H. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=mRNA+capping:+biological+functions+and+applications.">mRNA capping: biological functions and applications.</a> Nucleic Acids Research. 44 (16), 7511-7526 (2016).</li><li>Ghosh, A., Lima, C. D. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Enzymology+of+RNA+cap+synthesis.">Enzymology of RNA cap synthesis.</a> Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews. RNA. 1 (1), 152-172 (2010).</li><li>Moteki, S., Price, D. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Functional+coupling+of+capping+and+transcription+of+mRNA.">Functional coupling of capping and transcription of mRNA.</a> Molecular Cell. 10, 599-609 (2002).</li><li>Conaway, J. W., Conaway, R. C. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=An+RNA+polymerase+II+transcription+factor+shares+functional+properties+with+Escherichia+coli+sigma+70.">An RNA polymerase II transcription factor shares functional properties with Escherichia coli sigma 70.</a> Science. 248, 1550-1553 (1990).</li><li>Wang, D., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Structural+basis+of+transcription:+backtracked+RNA+polymerase+II+at+3.4+angstrom+resolution.">Structural basis of transcription: backtracked RNA polymerase II at 3.4 angstrom resolution.</a> Science. 324 (5931), 1203-1206 (2009).</li><li>Wang, L., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Molecular+basis+for+5-carboxycytosine+recognition+by+RNA+polymerase+II+elongation+complex.">Molecular basis for 5-carboxycytosine recognition by RNA polymerase II elongation complex.</a> Nature. 523 (7562), 621-625 (2015).</li><li>Martinez-Rucobo, F. W., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Molecular+Basis+of+Transcription-Coupled+Pre-mRNA+Capping.">Molecular Basis of Transcription-Coupled Pre-mRNA Capping.</a> Molecular Cell. 58 (6), 1079-1089 (2015).</li><li>Mandal, S. S., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Functional+interactions+of+RNA-capping+enzyme+with+factors+that+positively+and+negatively+regulate+promoter+escape+by+RNA+polymerase+II.">Functional interactions of RNA-capping enzyme with factors that positively and negatively regulate promoter escape by RNA polymerase II.</a> Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. 101, 7572-7577 (2004).</li><li>Chiu, Y. L., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Tat+stimulates+cotranscriptional+capping+of+HIV+mRNA.">Tat stimulates cotranscriptional capping of HIV mRNA.</a> Molecular Cell. 10 (3), 585-597 (2002).</li><li>Vos, S. M., Farnung, L., Urlaub, H., Cramer, P. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Structure+of+paused+transcription+complex+Pol+II-DSIF-NELF.">Structure of paused transcription complex Pol II-DSIF-NELF.</a> Nature. 560 (7720), 601-606 (2018).</li><li>Vos, S. M., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Structure+of+activated+transcription+complex+Pol+II-DSIF-PAF-SPT6.">Structure of activated transcription complex Pol II-DSIF-PAF-SPT6.</a> Nature. 560 (7720), 607-612 (2018).</li><li>Kujirai, T., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Structural+basis+of+the+nucleosome+transition+during+RNA+polymerase+II+passage.">Structural basis of the nucleosome transition during RNA polymerase II passage.</a> Science. 362 (6414), 595-598 (2018).</li><li>Szychowski, J., et al. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Cleavable+biotin+probes+for+labeling+of+biomolecules+via+azide-alkyne+cycloaddition.">Cleavable biotin probes for labeling of biomolecules via azide-alkyne cycloaddition.</a> Journal of the American Chemical Society. 132 (51), 18351-18360 (2010).</li></ol>

Studies that seek to dissect events coupled to the Pol II elongation complex such as RNA processing and regulation of the transcript elongation itself can be greatly facilitated by use of a highly purified enzyme system. Setting up such enzyme systems can be challenging. Promoter-dependent transcription by Pol II requires at least five general transcription factors. Preparing and stockpiling these factors can take months; hence, the rate-limiting step in this process is often simply preparing the cadre of transcription f...

Eukaryotic messenger RNA (mRNA) synthesis is an elaborate biochemical process that involves synthesis of an unprocessed precursor RNA by RNA polymerase II and processing of the precursor RNA to yield the mature mRNA. The RNA processing steps of capping, splicing, and polyadenylation are carried out largely co-transcriptionally. The Pol II elongation complex serves as a scaffold that recruits and orchestrates the activities of many of the RNA processing enzymes. Consequently, our ultimate understanding of how mature eukaryotic mRNAs are generated will rely heavily on the development of experimental systems to allow dissection of the biochemical mechanisms underlying recruitment to the elongation complex and regulation of enzymes responsible for co-transcriptional capping, splicing, and polyadenylation.
Not surprisingly, development of such experimental systems has been difficult. A major impediment has been the remarkable complexity of Pol II transcription itself where simply reconstituting basal transcription by Pol II in vitro requires a minimum set of five general transcription initiation factors: TFIIB, TFIID, TFIIE, TFIIF, and TFIIH1. Moreover, reconstituting any sort of regulated Pol II transcription in vitro requires an even larger set of transcription factors and coregulators. Thus, a major goal has been to develop simpler experimental systems allowing reconstitution of active Pol II elongation complexes suitable for investigations of the functional coupling of Pol II transcription and RNA processing.
One such simpler method for reconstituting active Pol II elongation complexes has proven useful for structural and biochemical studies of elongating Pol II and, more recently, for investigating co-transcriptional RNA processing2,3,4,5. In this article, we show how Pol II elongation complexes prepared from purified Pol II and synthetic transcription bubbles can be used effectively to investigate the mechanisms underlying co-transcriptional capping of nascent Pol II transcripts.
Capping refers to the covalent addition of a 5&#8217;-guanosine &#8220;cap&#8221; to the 5&#8217;-triphosphate end of nascent Pol II transcripts. The cap is important for subsequent steps of mRNA maturation, transport, translation, and other processes6,7. The cap is added co-transcriptionally to Pol II transcripts by an enzyme referred to as capping enzyme. In mammalian cells, active sites responsible for the RNA 5&#8217;-triphosphatase and guanylyl transferase activities of the capping enzyme are contained within a single polypeptide8. The capping enzyme is recruited to the Pol II elongation complex through interactions with yet to be defined surfaces on the Pol II body and the Rpb1 carboxy-terminal domain (CTD) phosphorylated on Ser5 of its heptapeptide repeats5. In the elongation complex, the capping enzyme catalyzes addition of a 5&#8217;-guanosine cap once the nascent transcript reaches a length of at least 18 nucleotides and has emerged from the polymerase RNA exit channel. In the first step of the capping reaction, the triphosphatase hydrolyzes the RNA 5&#8217;-triphosphate to yield a 5&#8217;-diphosphate. In the second step, GTP is hydrolyzed to GMP by the guanylyl transferase, forming a GMP-capping enzyme intermediate. Finally, the guanylyl transferase transfers GMP to the 5&#8217;-diphosphate end of the nascent transcript to produce the cap.
A remarkable feature of the capping reaction is that co-transcriptional capping (i.e., capping of transcripts associated with functional Pol II elongation complexes) is much more efficient than capping of free RNA5,9. Thus, a major question in the field has been how this dramatic activation of capping is achieved via interactions of the capping enzyme with the Pol II elongation complex. In this protocol we describe the assembly of active RNA polymerase II elongation complexes using only purified RNA polymerase II and artificial transcription bubbles. These methods allow creation of RNA polymerase II elongation complexes with transcripts of defined length and sequence. In a recent study, we used these defined RNA polymerase II elongation complexes as a model for investigating aspects of the mechanisms of RNA capping5. In particular, we showed that (i) capping of RNA associated with these elongation complexes was more than 100-fold more efficient than capping of free RNA and (ii) was stimulated by TFIIH-dependent phosphorylation of the Pol II CTD. The approach described here could in principle be adapted to generate substrates for studying other co-transcriptional RNA processing reactions linked to the Pol II elongation complex.
In Section 1 of this protocol, artificial elongation complexes are created by annealing a synthetic template strand DNA oligonucleotide to an RNA oligonucleotide that is complementary at its 3&#8217;-end to approximately 9 nucleotides of the template strand DNA. Pol II is then loaded onto the DNA:RNA duplex. The elongation complex is then completed by addition of a partially complementary, non-template strand DNA oligonucleotide that is labeled with biotin at its 3&#8217;-end (Figure 1 and Figure 2A). The RNA oligonucleotide is extended by Pol II in these elongation complexes to make radiolabeled transcripts of defined length and sequence upon addition of appropriate combinations of radiolabeled nucleotides. In addition, using a combination of washes to remove unincorporated nucleotides and further addition of different combinations of nucleotides, one can &#8220;walk&#8221; Pol II to different positions along the DNA template and synthesize RNA of defined lengths. RNA is then purified and subjected to electrophoresis in denaturing urea-PAGE gels. In Section 2 of the protocol, artificial elongation complexes are used to analyze co-transcriptional RNA capping. The example presented measures the effect of TFIIH-dependent phosphorylation of the Pol II CTD on co-transcriptional RNA capping. In this experiment, we measure the extent of co-transcriptional capping as a function of capping enzyme concentration (5, 15 and 45 ng per reaction) and time (1, 2 and 4 min).

<table>
	<tbody>
		<tr>
			<td>[&#945;-32P] UTP (3000 Ci/mmol), 1 mCi</td>
			<td>Perkin Elmer</td>
			<td>NEG007H001MC</td>
			<td>For radiolabeling RNA</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>2x RNA loading dye</td>
			<td>New England Biolabs</td>
			<td>B0363S</td>
			<td>Highly recommended. For preparing RNA during gel loading</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>40% Bis:Acrylamide solution</td>
			<td>Biorad</td>
			<td>1610144</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Bovine Serum Albumin (20 mg/ml)</td>
			<td>New England Biolabs</td>
			<td>B9000S</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Cdk7/Cyclin H/MAT1 (CAK complex) Protein, active, 10 &#181;g</td>
			<td>Millipore Sigma</td>
			<td>14-476</td>
			<td>Used to phosphorylate Pol II CTD</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>DNA oligonucleotides</td>
			<td>IDT</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>See Table 8 for purity specifications</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Dynabeads MyOne Streptavidin C1</td>
			<td>Life Technologies Invitrogen</td>
			<td>65001</td>
			<td>We have also used Dynabeads M-280 streptavidin without problem but prefer MyOne Streptavidin beads because they sediment more slowly</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>GlycoBlue Coprecipitant (15&#8201;mg/ml)</td>
			<td>Life Technologies Invitrogen</td>
			<td>AM9516</td>
			<td>Highly recommended. Dyes nucleic-acid pellet blue making reactions much easier to handle</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Hoefer SE600 standard dual cooled vertical electrophoresis system with 1 mm spacers and 15 well comb</td>
			<td>Hoefer</td>
			<td>SE600-15-1.5</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>MaXtract high density tubes (1.5 ml)</td>
			<td>Qiagen</td>
			<td>129046</td>
			<td>Highly recommended. Contains a high density gel that forms a stable barrier between aqueous and organic phases; improves RNA yields during extractions</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Proteinase K solution (20&#8201;mg/ml)</td>
			<td>Life Technologies Invitrogen</td>
			<td>25530049</td>
			<td></td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>RNA oligonucleotides</td>
			<td>Trilink</td>
			<td></td>
			<td>See Table 8 for more details</td>
		</tr>
		<tr>
			<td>Yeast Inorganic Pyrophosphatase (100 units/ml)</td>
			<td>New England Biolabs</td>
			<td>NEBM2403S</td>
			<td>Required only during capping reactions</td>
		</tr>
	</tbody>
</table>

artificial rna polymerase ii elongation complexes for dissecting co-transcriptional rna processing events

Eukaryotic mRNA synthesis is a complex biochemical process requiring transcription of a DNA template into a precursor RNA by the multi-subunit enzyme RNA polymerase II and co-transcriptional capping and splicing of the precursor RNA to form the mature mRNA. During mRNA synthesis, the RNA polymerase II elongation complex is a target for regulation by a large collection of transcription factors that control its catalytic activity, as well as the capping, splicing, and 3&#8217;-processing enzymes that create the mature mRNA. Because of the inherent complexity of mRNA synthesis, simpler experimental systems enabling isolation and investigation of its various co-transcriptional stages have great utility.
In this article, we describe one such simple experimental system suitable for investigating co-transcriptional RNA capping. This system relies on defined RNA polymerase II elongation complexes assembled from purified polymerase and artificial transcription bubbles. When immobilized via biotinylated DNA, these RNA polymerase II elongation complexes provide an easily manipulable tool for dissecting co-transcriptional RNA capping and mechanisms by which the elongation complex recruits and regulates capping enzyme during co-transcriptional RNA capping. We anticipate this system could be adapted for studying recruitment and/or assembly of proteins or protein complexes with roles in other stages of mRNA maturation coupled to the RNA polymerase II elongation complex.

Figures 2 and 3 show representative result reactions used to generate artificial elongation complexes containing transcripts of different lengths by extending or Pol II from different sources. Figure 4 depicts how these elongation complexes can be used to assay co-transcriptional CTD phosphorylation-dependent RNA capping.
Figure 2A is a...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Artificial RNA Polymerase II Elongation Complexes for Dissecting Co-transcriptional RNA Processing Events at JoVE.com

Artificial RNA Polymerase II Elongation Complexes for Dissecting Co-transcriptional RNA Processing Events

Here, we describe the assembly of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) elongation complexes requiring only short synthetic DNA and RNA oligonucleotides and purified Pol II. These complexes are useful for studying mechanisms underlying co-transcriptional processing of transcripts associated with the Pol II elongation complex.

Eukaryotic mRNA synthesis is a complex biochemical process requiring transcription of a DNA template into a precursor RNA by the multi-subunit enzyme RNA ...

Here, we've established a simple experimental system that allows reconstitution of active Pol II elongation complexes suitable for investigating the functional coupling of Pol II transcription and RNA capping. With this method, functional elongation complexes can be easily assembled with just a few components. The elongation complexes are immobilized on magnetic beads, so it's easy to change reaction conditions.To immobilize DNA oligo containing biotin on magnetic beads, first add 200 microliters of magnetic beads to a low-protein binding 1.5-milliliter tube, and then place the tube on a magnetic rack for two minutes. While the tube is on the magnetic rack, use a pipette to remove the liquid from the tube without disturbing the beads. To wash the beads, remove the tube from the rack, and add one milliliter of wash buffer containing Tris-hydrochloride, EDTA, and sodium chloride.Return the tube to the rack. After two minutes, remove the wash solution, and repeat the washes two more times using 200 microliters of the same buffer. Resuspend the magnetic beads in 400 microliters of 2X buffer.Then, add 380 microliters of water and 20 microliters of 10-micromolar non-template biotinylated DNA oligo to mix. Place the tube on a nutator, and incubate for 30 minutes at room temperature. After that, wash the beads with immobilized non-template DNA oligo three times using 200 microliters of buffer and then three times with 200 microliters of storage and dilution buffer.Store the tube at four degrees Celsius overnight to finish blocking the beads with BSA. The next day, discard the solution, resuspend the beads in 200 microliters of storage and dilution buffer, to reach an approximate DNA concentration of five micromolar, and then transfer the solution with the beads to a new tube. To obtain the DNA-RNA duplex, prepare a 10-microliter annealing mix in a PCR tube with a two-to-one RNA-DNA molar ratio, as described in the written protocol.Place the tube in a thermal cycler. Set the program to 45 degrees Celsius for five minutes, followed by 12 cycles of two minutes each, starting at 43 degrees Celsius and decreasing the temperature by two degrees Celsius per cycle. Lastly, keep it idle at four degrees Celsius.To load purified RNA polymerase II onto the DNA-RNA hybrid, mix one microliter of DNA-RNA duplex with 13 microliters of freshly prepared polymerase II buffer in a tube. Add one microliter of purified RNA polymerase II, and mix by gently pipetting up and down and stirring with the pipette tip, without introducing bubbles. Incubate the tube for 10 minutes at 30 degrees Celsius.To complete the elongation complex, add one microliter of immobilized non-template DNA oligo beads to 14 microliters of non-template DNA buffer, add the 15-microliter mixture to the previously incubated tube, and incubate it for another 10 minutes at 37 degrees Celsius. Place the sample on the magnetic rack for two minutes. Wash the sample one time with 30 microliters of wash buffer to remove unincorporated polymerase II and oligos.To radiolabel the elongation complexes with RNA 23mers, add one microliter of ATP and one microliter of radiolabeled UTP to 23 microliters of pulse buffer, and add this mixture to the washed magnetic beads to resuspend. Incubate the reaction for 10 minutes to allow the synthesis of radiolabeled 23mers. Add 1.5 microliters of solution containing 100-micromolar ATP and 100-micromolar UTP mix to 3.5 microliters of chase buffer, and add the mixture to the tube containing preassembled elongation complexes on beads.Again, incubate the tube for five minutes to chase all nascent transcripts into 23mers. Then, place the tube onto the magnetic rack, and wash as was done previously to remove unincorporated nucleotides. Resuspend the sample in 30 microliters of wash buffer.To generate elongation complexes with longer transcripts, follow the previous procedures, and scale up four-fold to generate 120 microliters of washed elongation complexes for four reactions. Label three new tubes 23mer, 25mer, and 29mer. Transfer 30 microliters of washed elongation complexes to the 23mer tube, and add 94 microliters of stop mix containing proteinase K and glycogen.Place the tube containing the remaining 90 microliters of washed elongation complexes on the magnetic rack for two minutes, remove the supernatant, and resuspend beads in 90 microliters of BTB supplemented with 1.2 microliters of ATP and CTP. Incubate for 10 minutes at 30 degrees Celsius. After washing with 90 microliters of wash buffer, transfer 30 microliters of elongation complexes to the 25mer tube, and add 94 microliters of stop mix containing proteinase K and glycogen.Again, place the tube containing the remaining 60 microliters of elongation complexes on the magnetic rack for two minutes. Repeat the BTB treatment with 60 microliters of buffer supplemented with 0.8 microliters of ATP and CTP. After incubation and washing as done before, resuspend the sample in 60 microliters of wash buffer.Transfer 30 microliters from the sample to the 29mer tube, and add 94 microliters of stop mix containing proteinase K and glycogen. Analyze reaction products on a denaturing polyacrylamide gel. First, generate washed elongation complexes containing 23mers by scaling up 13-fold the procedure previously described to obtain 390 microliters for 12 reactions and one extra.To perform phosphorylation of polymerase II CTD, remove the supernatant after placing the sample in the magnetic rack, and resuspend the beads in 377 microliters of BTB. Label two new tubes plus H and minus H.To plus H, add three microliters of transcription initiation factor TFIIH at the concentration of 300 nanograms per microliter, and to minus H, add nine microliters of storage and dilution buffer. Add 87 microliters of the washed elongation complexes to the plus H tube and 261 microliters to the minus H tube.Incubate the tubes for 10 minutes, and wash with wash buffer. To perform RNA capping, add 87 microliters of capping mix to the plus H tube and 261 microliters to the minus H tube to resuspend. Label four new tubes, five plus H, five minus H, 15 minus H, and 45 minus H, and dispense three microliters of five, 15, or 45 nanograms per microliter capping enzyme into the corresponding tubes.Then, prepare 12 new tubes with 94 microliters of stop buffer. Start the first capping reaction by adding 87 microliters of elongation complex treated with TFIIH to the tube labeled five plus H.Incubate at 30 degrees Celsius in a heat block. The capping reactions need to be precisely timed using a stopwatch.When working with multiple reactions, the start times for each reaction should be staggered. After one, two, or four minutes, transfer 30 microliters of the five plus reaction mixture to tubes labeled one, two, and three containing 94 microliters of stop buffer to stop the reactions. Proceed with capping reactions for the samples in the remaining minus H tubes in exactly the same way, using elongation complexes treated without TFIIH.Analyze reaction products on a denaturing polyacrylamide gel. A diagram is shown here for DNA and RNA molecules in artificial elongation complexes. Using the synthetic RNA oligo of 20 nucleotides as the RNA primer during assembly of the artificial elongation complexes, nucleotides were added during each sequential walking step of the protocol to generate a 23mer, a 25mer, and a 29mer.Reactions using RNA polymerase II from different sources were compared. Artificial elongation complexes were assembled with endogenous, wild-type polymerase II purified from either rat liver or fission yeast and walked to generate 23mers or 25mers. An assay was performed to measure capping of radiolabeled transcripts associated with artificial elongation complexes containing 23 nucleotide transcripts with a five-prime triphosphate end.The last two lanes show the products of reactions in which elongation complexes were incubated with or without capping enzyme in the presence of TFIIH. The more slowly and more rapidly migrating bands contain capped and uncapped transcripts, respectively. The first 12 lanes show capping of transcripts associated with elongation complexes with either a phosphorylated or unphosphorylated CTD.Activities of polymerase II and other enzymes may vary from prep to prep, so it's necessary to optimize reaction conditions by titrating enzyme concentrations to define optimal levels. It's important to use radioactive material safely and to avoid contamination. Please make sure to follow your laboratory and institute guidelines when doing experiments with radioactivity.

Research

Education

JoVE Journal

JoVE Core

Molecular Biology

Genetics

Unit 1

Transcription: DNA to RNA

SCIENTISTS IN ACTION

Inducible T7 RNA Polymerase-mediated Multigene Expression System, pMGX

Co-expression of multiple proteins is increasingly essential for synthetic biology, studying protein-protein complexes, and characterizing and harnessing ...

Mapping RNA-RNA Interactions Globally Using Biotinylated Psoralen

Knowing how RNAs interact with themselves and with others is key to understanding RNA based gene regulation in the cell. While examples of RNA-RNA ...

Semi-quantitative Detection of RNA-dependent RNA Polymerase Activity of Human Telomerase Reverse Transcriptase Protein

Human telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) is the catalytic subunit of telomerase, and it elongates telomere through RNA-dependent DNA polymerase ...

RNA Pull-down Procedure to Identify RNA Targets of a Long Non-coding RNA

Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA), which are sequences of more than 200 nucleotides without a defined reading frame, belong to the regulatory non-coding ...

Rare Event Detection Using Error-corrected DNA and RNA Sequencing

Conventional next-generation sequencing techniques (NGS) have allowed for immense genomic characterization for over a decade. Specifically, NGS has been ...

Quantitative Analysis of Alternative Pre-mRNA Splicing in Mouse Brain Sections Using RNA In Situ Hybridization Assay

Quantitative Analysis of Alternative Pre-mRNA Splicing in Mouse Brain Sections Using RNA In Situ Hybridization Assay

Alternative splicing (AS) occurs in more than 90% of human genes. The expression pattern of an alternatively spliced exon is often regulated in a cell ...

Saccharomyces cerevisiae Metabolic Labeling with 4-thiouracil and the Quantification of Newly Synthesized mRNA As a Proxy for RNA Polymerase II Activity

Saccharomyces cerevisiae Metabolic Labeling with 4-thiouracil and the Quantification of Newly Synthesized mRNA As a Proxy for RNA Polymerase II Activity

Global defects in RNA polymerase II transcription might be overlooked by transcriptomic studies analyzing steady-state RNA. Indeed, the global decrease in ...

CRISPR Guide RNA Cloning for Mammalian Systems

The outlined protocol describes streamlined methods for the efficient and cost-effective generation of Cas9-associated guide RNAs. Two alternative ...

Identification of Homologous Recombination Events in Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells Using Southern Blotting and Polymerase Chain Reaction

Relative to the issues of off-target effects and the difficulty of inserting a long DNA fragment in the application of designer nucleases for genome ...

An Assay for Quantifying Protein-RNA Binding in Bacteria

In the initiation step of protein translation, the ribosome binds to the initiation region of the mRNA. Translation initiation can be blocked by binding ...