Transcription factories are nuclear subcompartments that remain in the absence of transcription.
Mitchell JA, Fraser P.
Laboratory of Chromatin and Gene Expression, The Babraham Institute, Cambridge CB22 3AT, United Kingdom.
Nascent transcription occurs at nuclear foci of concentrated, hyperphosphorylated RNA polymerase II (RNAPII). We investigate RNAPII localization, distal gene co-association, and Hbb locus conformation during inhibition of transcription. Our results show distal active genes remain associated with RNAPII foci and each other in the absence of elongation. When initiation is inhibited, active genes dissociate from RNAPII foci and each other, suggesting initiation is necessary to tether distal active genes to shared foci. In the absence of transcription RNAPII foci remain, indicating they are not simple accumulations of RNAPII on transcribed genes but exist as independent nuclear subcompartments.
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PMID: 18172162 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]PMCID: PMC2151011