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PMID: 19110459 Published · ppublish English Journal Article Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural Research Support, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.

Subunit compositions of the RNA-silencing enzymes Pol IV and Pol V reveal their origins as specialized forms of RNA polymerase II.

Molecular cell ·Vol. 33 ·No. 2 ·2009-01-30 ·Pages 192-203

Ream TS, Haag JR, Wierzbicki AT, Nicora CD, Norbeck AD, Zhu JK, Hagen G, Guilfoyle TJ, Pasa-Tolić L, Pikaard CS

Abstract

In addition to RNA polymerases I, II, and III, the essential RNA polymerases present in all eukaryotes, plants have two additional nuclear RNA polymerases, abbreviated as Pol IV and Pol V, that play nonredundant roles in siRNA-directed DNA methylation and gene silencing. We show that Arabidopsis Pol IV and Pol V are composed of subunits that are paralogous or identical to the 12 subunits of Pol II. Four subunits of Pol IV are distinct from their Pol II paralogs, six subunits of Pol V are distinct from their Pol II paralogs, and four subunits differ between Pol IV and Pol V. Importantly, the subunit differences occur in key positions relative to the template entry and RNA exit paths. Our findings support the hypothesis that Pol IV and Pol V are Pol II-like enzymes that evolved specialized roles in the production of noncoding transcripts for RNA silencing and genome defense.

MeSH Terms
Amino Acid Sequence Arabidopsis Proteins/chemistry,genetics,metabolism DNA Methylation DNA, Plant/metabolism DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases/chemistry,genetics,metabolism Gene Silencing Models, Biological Molecular Sequence Data Phylogeny Plants, Genetically Modified Protein Subunits/chemistry,genetics,metabolism RNA Interference RNA Polymerase II/genetics,metabolism RNA, Small Interfering/metabolism RNA, Untranslated/metabolism Sequence Alignment
Chemicals
Arabidopsis Proteins DNA, Plant Protein Subunits RNA, Small Interfering RNA, Untranslated RNA Polymerase II RNA polymerase IV, Arabidopsis RNA polymerase V, Arabidopsis DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases
Authors & Affiliations
10 authors, click to expand affiliations / ORCID
Ream Thomas S
Biology Department, Washington University, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA.
Haag Jeremy R
Wierzbicki Andrzej T
Nicora Carrie D
Norbeck Angela D
Zhu Jian-Kang
Hagen Gretchen
Guilfoyle Thomas J
Pasa-Tolić Ljiljana
Pikaard Craig S
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Article Info
Journal
Molecular cell
Abbr.
Mol Cell
ISSN
1097-4164
DOI
10.1016/j.molcel.2008.12.015
Published
2009-01-30
Epub
2008-00-24
Pages
192-203
Language
English
Region
United States
NLM ID
9802571
PMCID
PMC2946823
Subset
IM
Grants
NCRR NIH HHS · P41 RR018522 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · GM077590 · United States
NCRR NIH HHS · RR18522 · United States
NCRR NIH HHS · P41 RR018522-06 · United States
NIGMS NIH HHS · R01 GM077590 · United States
External Links
PubMed source DOI: 10.1016/j.molcel.2008.12.015 PMC Full Text View journal details
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