Bur1 Kinase Is Required for Efficient Transcription Elongation by RNA Polymerase II

Abstract

The Saccharomyces cerevisiae cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK) Bur1 (Sgv1) may be homologous to mammalian Cdk9, which functions in transcriptional elongation. Although Bur1 can phosphorylate the Rpb1 carboxy-terminal domain (CTD) kinase in vitro, it has no strong specificity within the consensus heptapeptide YSPTSPS for Ser2 or Ser5. BUR1 mutants are sensitive to the drugs 6-azauracil and mycophenolic acid and interact genetically with the elongation factors Ctk1 and Spt5. Chromatin immunoprecipitation experiments show that Bur1 and its cyclin partner Bur2 are recruited to transcription elongation complexes, cross-linking to actively transcribing genes. Interestingly, Bur1 shows reduced cross-linking to transcribed regions downstream of polyadenylation sites. In addition, bur1 mutant strains have a reduced cross-linking ratio of RNA polymerase II at the 3′ end of genes relative to promoter regions. Phosphorylation of CTD serines 2 and 5 appears normal in mutant cells, suggesting that Bur1 is not a significant source of cotranscriptional Rpb1 phosphorylation. These results show that Bur1 functions in transcription elongation but may phosphorylate a substrate other than the CTD.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

We thank Greg Prelich, Fred Winston, and Grant Hartzog for yeast strains; P. Cliften, M. Johnston, and the Washington University Genome Sequencing Center for sequences of Bur1 homologues from other yeast; R. Buratowski for proofreading; and Minkyu Kim, Seong-Hoon Ahn, Paul Mason, and Fred Winston for helpful discussions.

S.B. is a Scholar of the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. This work was supported by NIH grants GM46498 and GM56663 to S.B.