NELF, a Multisubunit Complex Containing RD, Cooperates with DSIF to Repress RNA Polymerase II Elongation
Open accessAbstract
DRB is a classic inhibitor of transcription elongation by RNA polymerase II (pol II). Since DRB generally affects class II genes, factors involved in this process must play fundamental roles in pol II elongation. Recently, two elongation factors essential for DRB action were identified, namely DSIF and P-TEFb. Here we describe the identification and purification from HeLa nuclear extract of a third protein factor required for DRB-sensitive transcription. This factor, termed negative elongation factor (NELF), cooperates with DSIF and strongly represses pol II elongation. This repression is reversed by P-TEFb-dependent phosphorylation of the pol II C-terminal domain. NELF is composed of five polypeptides, the smallest of which is identical to RD, a putative RNA-binding protein of unknown function. This study reveals a molecular mechanism for DRB action and a regulatory network of positive and negative elongation factors.
Integrity signals
Registry
Cites
Statistics
Claims the paper makes
Claims other papers make about this one
Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?
Phosphorylation of Ser2 of the Pol II CTD, DSIF, and NELF by pTEFb is needed for transcription elongation.
“Phosphorylation of Ser5 of the Pol II CTD by transcription factor IIH (TFIIH) is required for transcription initiation, whereas phosphorylation of Ser2 of the Pol II CTD, of DSIF (DRB sensitivity inducing factor) and of NELF (negative elongation factor) by pTEFb (positive transcription elongation factor) is needed for transcription elongation141–143.”
From Molecular regulation of stem cell quiescence (2013) · cites this paper as [142]
Cites
Dignam, J. D., Lebovitz, R. M., & Roeder, R. G. (1983) · Nucleic Acids Research · doi:10.1093/nar/11.5.1475 · Cited by 11,262 · see citing works
Current protocols in molecular biology
Sargent, T. (1988) · Analytical Biochemistry · doi:10.1016/0003-2697(88)90147-9 · Cited by 7,281 · see citing works
Helntz, N. (1991) · Trends in Biochemical Sciences · doi:10.1016/0968-0004(91)90161-n · Cited by 892 · see citing works
Wada, T., Takagi, T., Yamaguchi, Y., Ferdous, A., Imai, T., Hirose, S., Sugimoto, S., Yano, K., Hartzog, G. A., Winston, F., et al. (1998) · Genes & Development · doi:10.1101/gad.12.3.343 · Cited by 750 · see citing works
Self-citationTranscription elongation factor P-TEFb is required for HIV-1 Tat transactivation in vitroPreprint
Zhu, Y., Peery, T., Peng, J., Ramanathan, Y., Marshall, N. F., Marshall, T. K., Amendt, B. A., Mathews, M. B., & Price, D. H. (1997) · Genes & Development · doi:10.1101/gad.11.20.2622 · Cited by 700 · see citing works
Control of RNA Polymerase II Elongation Potential by a Novel Carboxyl-terminal Domain Kinase
Marshall, N. F., Peng, J., Xie, Z., & Price, D. H. (1996) · Journal of Biological Chemistry · doi:10.1074/jbc.271.43.27176 · Cited by 662 · see citing works
CONTROL OF RNA INITIATION AND ELONGATION AT THE HIV-1 PROMOTER
Jones, K. A., & Peterlin, B. M. (1994) · Annual Review of Biochemistry · doi:10.1146/annurev.bi.63.070194.003441 · Cited by 618 · see citing works
Marshall, N. F., & Price, D. H. (1995) · Journal of Biological Chemistry · doi:10.1074/jbc.270.21.12335 · Cited by 564 · see citing works
McCracken, S. A., Fong, N., Rosonina, E., Yankulov, K., Brothers, G. M., Siderovski, D. P., Hessel, A., Foster, S., Program, A. E., Shuman, S., et al. (1997) · Genes & Development · doi:10.1101/gad.11.24.3306 · Cited by 548 · see citing works
Identification of multiple cyclin subunits of human P-TEFb.Preprint
Peng, J.-M., Zhu, Y., Milton, J. T., & Price, D. (1998) · Genes & Development · doi:10.1101/gad.12.5.755 · Cited by 531 · see citing works
Reversible Phosphorylation of the C-terminal Domain of RNA Polymerase II
Dahmus, M. E. (1996) · Journal of Biological Chemistry · doi:10.1074/jbc.271.32.19009 · Cited by 501 · see citing works
Otero, G., Fellows, J., Li, Y., de Bizemont, T., Dirac, A. M. G., Gustafsson, C. M., Erdjument‐Bromage, H., Tempst, P., & Svejstrup, J. Q. (1999) · Molecular Cell · doi:10.1016/s1097-2765(00)80179-3 · Cited by 482 · see citing works
Cho, E., Takagi, T., Moore, C. R., & Buratowski, S. (1997) · Genes & Development · doi:10.1101/gad.11.24.3319 · Cited by 478 · see citing works
Self-citationHartzog, G. A., Wada, T., Handa, H., & Winston, F. (1998) · Genes & Development · doi:10.1101/gad.12.3.357 · Cited by 461 · see citing works
Self-citationBASIC MECHANISMS OF TRANSCRIPT ELONGATION AND ITS REGULATION
Uptain, S. M., Kane, C. M., & Chamberlin, M. J. (1997) · Annual Review of Biochemistry · doi:10.1146/annurev.biochem.66.1.117 · Cited by 445 · see citing works
Sawadogo, M., & Roeder, R. G. (1985) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · doi:10.1073/pnas.82.13.4394 · Cited by 421 · see citing works
Temporal Regulation of RNA Polymerase II by Srb10 and Kin28 Cyclin-Dependent Kinases
Hengartner, C. J., Myer, V. E., Liao, S.-M., Wilson, C. J., Koh, S. S., & Young, R. A. (1998) · Molecular Cell · doi:10.1016/s1097-2765(00)80112-4 · Cited by 408 · see citing works
Wada, T., Takagi, T., Yamaguchi, Y., Watanabe, D., & Handa, H. (1998) · The EMBO Journal · doi:10.1093/emboj/17.24.7395 · Cited by 355 · see citing works
Self-citationElongin (SIII): A Multisubunit Regulator of Elongation by RNA Polymerase II
Aso, T., Lane, W. S., Conaway, J. W., & Conaway, R. C. (1995) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.7660129 · Cited by 327 · see citing works
Lu, H., Flores, O. A., Weinmann, R. S., & Reinberg, D. (1991) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.88.22.10004 · Cited by 325 · see citing works
Phosphorylation of RNA polymerase II C-terminal domain and transcriptional elongation
O’Brien, T., Hardin, S. E., Greenleaf, A. L., & Lis, J. T. (1994) · Nature · doi:10.1038/370075a0 · Cited by 324 · see citing works
Mortillaro, M. J., Blencowe, B. J., Wei, X., Nakayasu, H., Du, L., Warren, S. L., Sharp, P. A., & Berezney, R. (1996) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.93.16.8253 · Cited by 322 · see citing works
Control of formation of two distinct classes of RNA polymerase II elongation complexes.
Marshall, N. F., & Price, D. H. (1992) · Molecular and Cellular Biology · doi:10.1128/mcb.12.5.2078 · Cited by 298 · see citing works
HIV‐1 Tat protein promotes formation of more‐processive elongation complexes.
Marciniak, R. A., & Sharp, P. A. (1991) · The EMBO Journal · doi:10.1002/j.1460-2075.1991.tb04997.x · Cited by 290 · see citing works
Chodosh, L. A., Fire, A. Z., Samuels, M. E., & Sharp, P. A. (1989) · Journal of Biological Chemistry · doi:10.1016/s0021-9258(18)94169-4 · Cited by 234 · see citing works
Sun, X., Zhang, Y., Cho, H. K., Rickert, P., Lees, E. M., Lane, W. S., & Reinberg, D. (1998) · Molecular Cell · doi:10.1016/s1097-2765(00)80131-8 · Cited by 232 · see citing works
Yue, Z., Maldonado, E., Pillutla, R. C., Cho, H. K., Reinberg, D., & Shatkin, A. J. (1997) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.94.24.12898 · Cited by 226 · see citing works
Sehgal, P. B., Darnell, J. E., Jr., & Tamm, I. (1976) · Cell · doi:10.1016/0092-8674(76)90092-1 · Cited by 203 · see citing works
Zehring, W. A., Lee, J. M., Weeks, J. R., Jokerst, R. S., & Greenleaf, A. L. (1988) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.85.11.3698 · Cited by 192 · see citing works
Maxon, M. E., Goodrich, J. A., & Tjian, R. (1994) · Genes & Development · doi:10.1101/gad.8.5.515 · Cited by 187 · see citing works
Swanson, M. S., Malone, E. A., & Winston, F. (1991) · Molecular and Cellular Biology · doi:10.1128/mcb.11.6.3009 · Cited by 183 · see citing works
Phosphorylation of C-terminal domain of RNA polymerase II is not required in basal transcription
Serizawa, H., Conaway, J. W., & Conaway, R. C. (1993) · Nature · doi:10.1038/363371a0 · Cited by 182 · see citing works
A CTD function linking transcription to splicing
Corden, J. L., & Patturajan, M. (1997) · Trends in Biochemical Sciences · doi:10.1016/s0968-0004(97)01125-0 · Cited by 157 · see citing works
Archambault, J., Pan, G., Dahmus, G. K., Cartier, M., Marshall, N. F., Zhang, S., Dahmus, M. E., & Greenblatt, J. F. (1998) · Journal of Biological Chemistry · doi:10.1074/jbc.273.42.27593 · Cited by 149 · see citing works
Archambault, J., Chambers, R., Kobor, M. S., Ho, Y., Cartier, M., Bolotin, D., Andrews, B., Kane, C. M., & Greenblatt, J. (1997) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.94.26.14300 · Cited by 145 · see citing works
Structure and Function of the Human Transcription Elongation Factor DSIF
Yamaguchi, Y., Wada, T., Watanabe, D., Takagi, T., Hasegawa, J., & Handa, H. (1999) · Journal of Biological Chemistry · doi:10.1074/jbc.274.12.8085 · Cited by 143 · see citing works
Self-citationThe RNA polymerase II general elongation factors
Reines, D., Conaway, J. W., & Conaway, R. C. (1996) · Trends in Biochemical Sciences · doi:10.1016/s0968-0004(96)10045-1 · Cited by 135 · see citing works
A role for TFIIH in controlling the activity of early RNA polymerase II elongation complexes
Dvir, A., Conaway, R. C., & Conaway, J. W. (1997) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.94.17.9006 · Cited by 131 · see citing works
A kinase-deficient transcription factor TFIIH is functional in basal and activated transcription.
Mäkelä, T. P., Parvin, J. D., Kim, J., Huber, L. J., Sharp, P. A., & Weinberg, R. A. (1995) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.92.11.5174 · Cited by 123 · see citing works
Dubois, M., Nguyen, V. T., Bellier, S., & Bensaude, O. (1994) · Journal of Biological Chemistry · doi:10.1016/s0021-9258(17)36837-0 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
Chambers, R., Wang, B. Q., Burton, Z. F., & Dahmus, M. E. (1995) · Journal of Biological Chemistry · doi:10.1074/jbc.270.25.14962 · Cited by 122 · see citing works
The RNA polymerase II general elongation factors
Reines, D. (1996) · Trends in Biochemical Sciences · doi:10.1016/0968-0004(96)10045-1 · Cited by 114 · see citing works
A Previously Undetected MHC Gene with an Unusual Periodic Structure
Lévi‐Strauss, M., Carroll, M. C., Steinmetz, M., et al. (1988) · Science · doi:10.1126/science.3353717 · Cited by 106 · see citing works
Factors regulating the transcriptional elongation activity of RNA polymerase II
Shilatifard, A. (1998) · The FASEB Journal · doi:10.1096/fasebj.12.14.1437 · Cited by 104 · see citing works
Interplay between positive and negative elongation factors: drawing a new view of DRB
Yamaguchi, Y., Wada, T., & Handa, H. (1998) · Genes to Cells · doi:10.1046/j.1365-2443.1998.00162.x · Cited by 81 · see citing works
Self-citationTranscription factor E4TF1 contains two subunits with different functions.
Watanabe, H., Wada, T., & Handa, H. (1990) · The EMBO Journal · doi:10.1002/j.1460-2075.1990.tb08181.x · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Self-citation(1991) · Molecular and Cellular Biology · doi:10.1128/mcb.11.8.4286-.1991 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Kumar, K. P., Akoulitchev, S., & Reinberg, D. (1998) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.95.17.9767 · Cited by 76 · see citing works
Winston, F. (1992) · Cold Spring Harbor Monograph Archive · doi:10.1101/087969425.22b.1271 · Cited by 64 · see citing works
A Human RNA Polymerase II Transcription Termination Factor Is a SWI2/SNF2 Family Member
Liu, M., Zhi, X., & Price, D. H. (1998) · Journal of Biological Chemistry · doi:10.1074/jbc.273.40.25541 · Cited by 59 · see citing works
Purification of an RNA Polymerase II Transcript Release Factor from Drosophila
Zhi, X., & Price, D. H. (1996) · Journal of Biological Chemistry · doi:10.1074/jbc.271.19.11043 · Cited by 52 · see citing works
Purification of RNA polymerase IIO from calf thymus.
Kim, W. Y., & Dahmus, M. E. (1988) · Journal of Biological Chemistry · doi:10.1016/s0021-9258(18)37364-2 · Cited by 49 · see citing works
Regulation of the human general transcription initiation factor TFIIF by phosphorylation.
Kitajima, S., Chibazakura, T., Yonaha, M., et al. (1994) · Journal of Biological Chemistry · doi:10.1016/s0021-9258(18)43976-2 · Cited by 46 · see citing works
Affinity purification of transcription factor IIA from HeLa cell nuclear extracts.
Usuda, Y., Kubota, A., Berk, A. J., & Handa, H. (1991) · The EMBO Journal · doi:10.1002/j.1460-2075.1991.tb07767.x · Cited by 44 · see citing works
Self-citationSamkurashvili, I., & Luse, D. S. (1998) · Molecular and Cellular Biology · doi:10.1128/mcb.18.9.5343 · Cited by 43 · see citing works
Hartzog, G. A., Basrai, M. A., Ricupero‐Hovasse, S. L., Hieter, P., & Winston, F. (1996) · Molecular and Cellular Biology · doi:10.1128/mcb.16.6.2848 · Cited by 38 · see citing works
Thompson, N. E., & Burgess, R. R. (1996) · Methods in enzymology on CD-ROM/Methods in enzymology · doi:10.1016/s0076-6879(96)74041-7 · Cited by 30 · see citing works
Wada, T., Watanabe, H., Usuda, Y., & Handa, H. (1991) · Journal of Virology · doi:10.1128/jvi.65.2.557-564.1991 · Cited by 24 · see citing works
Self-citationCheng, J., Macon, K. J., & Volanakis, J. E. (1993) · Biochemical Journal · doi:10.1042/bj2940589 · Cited by 20 · see citing works
Flagged first, then by citations
Cited by
Sorted by citations
c-Myc Regulates Transcriptional Pause Release
Rahl, P. B., Lin, C. Y., Seila, A. C., Flynn, R. A., McCuine, S., Burge, C. B., Sharp, P. A., & Young, R. A. (2010) · Cell · doi:10.1016/j.cell.2010.03.030 · Cited by 1,279 · see citing works
Molecular regulation of stem cell quiescence
Cheung, T. H., & Rando, T. A. (2013) · Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology · doi:10.1038/nrm3591 · Cited by 1,148 · see citing works
Jonkers, I., Kwak, H., & Lis, J. T. (2014) · eLife · doi:10.7554/elife.02407 · Cited by 581 · see citing works
Comparative genomics and evolution of proteins involved in RNA metabolism
Anantharaman, V. (2002) · Nucleic Acids Research · doi:10.1093/nar/30.7.1427 · Cited by 541 · see citing works
Gene regulation in the immediate-early response process
Bahrami, S., & Drabløs, F. (2016) · Advances in Biological Regulation · doi:10.1016/j.jbior.2016.05.001 · Cited by 465 · see citing works
“On the other hand, NELF probably requires DSIF to repress transcription fully because NELF only binds to RNA Pol II with low affinity (Yamaguchi et al., 1999).”
BackgroundBorn to run: control of transcription elongation by RNA polymerase II
Chen, F. X., Smith, E. R., & Shilatifard, A. (2018) · Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology · doi:10.1038/s41580-018-0010-5 · Cited by 447 · see citing works
Transcriptional and Posttranscriptional Regulation of HIV-1 Gene Expression
Karn, J., & Stoltzfus, C. M. (2012) · Cold Spring Harbor Perspectives in Medicine · doi:10.1101/cshperspect.a006916 · Cited by 437 · see citing works
Danko, C. G., Hah, N., Luo, X., Martins, A. L., Core, L., Lis, J. T., Siepel, A., & Kraus, W. L. (2013) · Molecular Cell · doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2013.02.015 · Cited by 333 · see citing works
Huang, K.-L., Jee, D., Stein, C. B., Elrod, N. D., Henriques, T., Mascibroda, L. G., Baillat, D., Russell, W. K., Adelman, K., & Wagner, E. J. (2020) · Molecular Cell · doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2020.08.016 · Cited by 184 · see citing works
Histone Deacetylases Positively Regulate Transcription through the Elongation Machinery
Greer, C. B., Tanaka, Y., Kim, Y. J., Xie, P., Zhang, M. Q., Park, I.-H., & Kim, T. H. (2015) · Cell Reports · doi:10.1016/j.celrep.2015.10.013 · Cited by 174 · see citing works
Structure of complete Pol II–DSIF–PAF–SPT6 transcription complex reveals RTF1 allosteric activation
Vos, S. M., Farnung, L., Linden, A., Urlaub, H., & Cramer, P. (2020) · Nature Structural & Molecular Biology · doi:10.1038/s41594-020-0437-1 · Cited by 160 · see citing works
Transcriptional response to stress is pre-wired by promoter and enhancer architecture
Vihervaara, A., Mahat, D. B., Guertin, M. J., Chu, T., Danko, C. G., Lis, J. T., & Sistonen, L. (2017) · Nature Communications · doi:10.1038/s41467-017-00151-0 · Cited by 164 · see citing works
Hepatic stellate cells: Three-dimensional structure, localization, heterogeneity and development
WAKE, K. (2006) · Proceedings of the Japan Academy, Series B · doi:10.2183/pjab.82.155 · Cited by 95 · see citing works
Quan, T. K., & Hartzog, G. A. (2010) · Genetics · doi:10.1534/genetics.109.111526 · Cited by 79 · see citing works
Fitz, J., Neumann, T., & Pavri, R. (2018) · The EMBO Journal · doi:10.15252/embj.201797965 · Cited by 74 · see citing works
The Dependence Receptor TrkC Triggers Mitochondria-Dependent Apoptosis upon Cobra-1 Recruitment
Ichim, G., Genevois, A.-L., Ménard, M., Yu, L.-Y., Coelho-Aguiar, J. M., Llambi, F., Jarrosson-Wuilleme, L., Lefebvre, J., Tulasne, D., Dupin, E., et al. (2013) · Molecular Cell · doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2013.08.021 · Cited by 28 · see citing works
Sequential verification of transcription by Integrator and Restrictor
Estell, C., Łazowski, K., Eaton, J. D., & West, S. (2025) · Molecular Cell · doi:10.1016/j.molcel.2025.09.025 · Cited by 16 · see citing works
The Paf1 complex is required for RNA polymerase II removal in response to DNA damage
Chen, F., Liu, B., Zhou, H., & Long, J. (2022) · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences · doi:10.1073/pnas.2207332119 · Cited by 11 · see citing works
- Authors
- Yamaguchi, Y., Takagi, T., Wada, T., Yano, K., Furuya, A., Sugimoto, S., Hasegawa, J., & Handa, H.
- Affiliations
- Tokyo Institute of Technology (JP)
- Corresponding author
- Handa, Hiroshi
- Venue
- Cell
- Publisher
- Elsevier BV
- Published
- 1999-04
- Volume
- 97
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 41-51
- ISSN
- 0092-8674 (ISSN-L)
- OpenAlex
- W2162082053
- Cited by
- 841
- References
- 59
- Citations by year
- 2026: 29 · 2025: 31 · 2024: 32 · 2023: 22 · 2022: 32 · 2021: 41 · 2020: 51 · 2019: 25 · 2018: 32 · 2017: 27 · 2016: 34 · 2015: 32 · 2014: 30 · 2013: 48 · 2012: 39
- FWCI
- 10.91
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- bronze
- doi.org
- Licence
- Locations
- Cell (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Tokyo Tech Research Repository (Tokyo Institute of Technology) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Genomics and Chromatin Dynamics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › RNA Research and Splicing
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Nuclear Structure and Function
- Keywords
- NELF, DRB, RNA polymerase II elongation, DSIF, P-TEFb, C-terminal domain phosphorylation, class II genes, multisubunit complexes, HeLa cell nuclear extracts
- MeSH terms
- Amino Acid Sequence, Cloning, Molecular, Dichlororibofuranosylbenzimidazole, HeLa Cells, Humans, Kinetics, Molecular Sequence Data, Nuclear Proteins, Repressor Proteins, RNA Polymerase II, Transcription Factors, Tumor Cells, Cultured, RNA-Binding Proteins, Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases, Dimerization, Transcriptional Elongation Factors, Positive Transcriptional Elongation Factor B
About these checks
Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.
Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.
Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.
What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›
Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review