Note to users. If you're seeing this message, it means that your browser cannot find this page's style/presentation instructions -- or possibly that you are using a browser that does not support current Web standards. Find out more about why this message is appearing, and what you can do to make your experience of our site the best it can be.

Originally published in Science Express on 26 February 2009
Science 3 April 2009:
Vol. 324. no. 5923, pp. 92 - 94
DOI: 10.1126/science.1169628
Prev | Table of Contents | Next

Reports

RNA Pol II Accumulates at Promoters of Growth Genes During Developmental Arrest

L. Ryan Baugh,* John DeModena, Paul W. Sternberg{dagger}

When Caenorhabditis elegans larvae hatch from the egg case in the absence of food, their development is arrested (L1 arrest), and they show increased stress resistance until food becomes available. To study nutritional control of larval development, we analyzed growth and gene expression profiles during L1 arrest and recovery. Larvae that were fed responded relatively slowly to starvation compared with the rapid response of arrested larvae to feeding. Chromatin immunoprecipitation of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) followed by deep sequencing showed that during L1 arrest, Pol II continued transcribing starvation-response genes, but the enzyme accumulated on the promoters of growth and development genes. In response to feeding, promoter accumulation decreased, and elongation and messenger RNA levels increased. Therefore, accumulation of Pol II at promoters anticipates nutritionally controlled gene expression during C. elegans development.

Howard Hughes Medical Institute and Division of Biology, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA 91125, USA.

* Present address: Department of Biology, Duke University, Durham, NC 27708, USA.

{dagger} To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: pws{at}caltech.edu

Read the Full Text


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Defining specificity of transcription factor regulatory activities.
J. Eeckhoute, R. Metivier, and G. Salbert (2009)
J. Cell Sci. 122, 4027-4034
   Abstract »    Full Text »    PDF »


To Advertise     Find Products

Science. ISSN 0036-8075 (print), 1095-9203 (online)