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Inhibiting eukaryotic transcription: Which compound to choose? How to evaluate its activity?

Olivier Bensaude
- Vol. 2, Iss: 3, pp 103-108
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TLDR
New compounds such as triptolide are fast, selective and completely arrest transcription as they trigger rapid degradation of RNAP II and α-amanitin, the characteristics and mechanisms of commonly used inhibitors are reviewed.
Abstract
This review deals first with general questions: how to evaluate transcription inhibition, describe changes in nuclear structure due to transcription inhibition, report on genes that are paradoxically stimulated by transcription inhibition. Next, it reviews the characteristics and mechanisms of commonly used inhibitors. α-amanitin is highly selective for RNAP II and RNAP III but its action is slow, actinomycin D is fast but its selectivity is poor, CDK9 inhibitors such as DRB, flavopiridol, are fast and reversible but many genes escape transcription inhibition. New compounds such as triptolide are fast, selective and completely arrest transcription as they trigger rapid degradation of RNAP II.

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Citations
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Journal ArticleDOI

Mediator and RNA polymerase II clusters associate in transcription-dependent condensates

TL;DR: This work used live-cell superresolution and light-sheet imaging to study the organization and dynamics of the Mediator coactivator and RNA polymerase II (Pol II) directly and suggests that large clusters of Mediator, recruited by transcription factors at large or clustered enhancer elements, interact with large Pol II clusters in transcriptional condensates in vivo.
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Organizational principles of 3D genome architecture

TL;DR: Observations suggest that the 3D organization of the genome is an emergent property of chromatin and its components, and thus may not be only a determinant but also a consequence of its function.
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Single mammalian cells compensate for differences in cellular volume and DNA copy number through independent global transcriptional mechanisms

TL;DR: It is shown that transcript abundance correlates with cellular volume at the single-cell level due to increased global transcription in larger cells, and a separate mechanism for gene dosage compensation after DNA replication that enables proper transcriptional output during early and late S phase is revealed.
Journal ArticleDOI

Real-Time Dynamics of RNA Polymerase II Clustering in Live Human Cells

TL;DR: A quantitative single-cell approach to characterize protein spatiotemporal organization, with single-molecule sensitivity in live eukaryotic cells, suggests that transient crowding of enzymes may aid in rate-limiting steps of gene regulation.
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Gene Silencing Triggers Polycomb Repressive Complex 2 Recruitment to CpG Islands Genome Wide

TL;DR: The results show that it is the transcriptional state that governs PRC2 binding, and it is proposed that it binds by default to nontranscribed CGI genes to maintain their silenced state and to protect cell identity.
References
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Journal ArticleDOI

Blinded by the Light: The Growing Complexity of p53

TL;DR: Control of p53's transcriptional activity is crucial for determining which p53 response is activated, a decision that must be understood if the next generation of drugs that selectively activate or inhibit p53 are to be exploited efficiently.
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Messenger-RNA-binding proteins and the messages they carry.

TL;DR: From sites of transcription in the nucleus to the outreaches of the cytoplasm, messenger RNAs are associated with RNA-binding proteins that communicate crucial information to the translation machinery for the surveillance of nonsense mutations and for mRNA localization and translation.
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Visualization of Single RNA Transcripts in Situ

TL;DR: This approach extends the power of FISH to yield quantitative molecular information on a single cell by positioning probes along the transcription unit to determine the rates of transcription initiation and termination and messenger RNA processing.
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The Nucleolus under Stress

TL;DR: Nucleolar function in the stress-induced regulation of p53 and the specific changes in nucleolar morphology and composition that occur upon stress are reviewed.
Journal ArticleDOI

Shuttling of pre-mRNA binding proteins between nucleus and cytoplasm

TL;DR: It is shown here that several of the abundant hnRNP proteins, including Al, shuttle between the nucleus and the cytoplasm, and may thus also have cy toplasmic functions.
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Trending Questions (1)
Which transcriptional inhibitors are irreversible and lead to RNA polymerase II degradation?

The paper mentions that α-amanitin is an irreversible inhibitor that triggers degradation of RNA polymerase II (RNAP II).