Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40043114›Full record

ArticleScience advances2025

Structural insights into promoter-proximal pausing of RNA polymerase II at +1 nucleosome.

Masahiro Naganuma, Tomoya Kujirai, Haruhiko Ehara, Tamami Uejima, Tomoko Ito, Mie Goto, Mari Aoki, Masami Henmi, Sayako Miyamoto-Kohno, Mikako Shirouzu and 2 more

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Science advances, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 10 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
10citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

10 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Topology Resetting During Transcription-Coupled Nucleotide Excision Repair.International journal of molecular sciences · 2026
    Review
  2. Article
  3. Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Promoter proximal pausing of RNA polymerase across evolution.Nature structural & molecular biology · 2026
    Article
  7. Review
  8. Article
  9. Article
  10. Toward structural understanding of eukaryotic transcription elongation.Proceedings of the Japan Academy. Series B, Physical and biological sciences · 2025
    Review
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

12 authors.

Masahiro NaganumaRIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan.ORCID 0000-0003-2870-9110
Tomoya KujiraiRIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan.ORCID 0000-0001-5547-9598
Haruhiko EharaRIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-7420-145X
Tamami UejimaRIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan.ORCID 0009-0001-0560-5071
Tomoko ItoLaboratory of Chromatin Structure and Function, Institute for Quantitative Biosciences, The University of Tokyo, 1-1-1 Yayoi, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-0032, Japan.ORCID 0009-0006-8111-4959
Mie GotoRIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-3793-120X
Mari AokiRIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan.
Masami HenmiRIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan.ORCID 0009-0009-5948-2204
Sayako Miyamoto-KohnoRIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan.
Mikako ShirouzuRIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan.ORCID 0000-0002-7997-2149
Hitoshi KurumizakaRIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan.ORCID 0000-0001-7412-3722
Shun-Ichi SekineRIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research, 1-7-22 Suehiro-cho, Tsurumi-ku, Yokohama 230-0045, Japan.ORCID 0000-0001-8174-8704

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The metazoan transcription elongation complex (EC) of RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) generally stalls between the transcription start site and the first (+1) nucleosome. This promoter-proximal pausing involves negative elongation factor (NELF), 5,6-dichloro-1-β-d-ribobenzimidazole sensitivity-inducing factor (DSIF), and transcription elongation factor IIS (TFIIS) and is critical for subsequent productive transcription elongation. However, the detailed pausing mechanism and the involvement of the +1 nucleosome remain enigmatic. Here, we report cryo-electron microscopy structures of ECs stalled on nucleosomal DNA. In the absence of TFIIS, the EC is backtracked/arrested due to conflicts between NELF and the nucleosome. We identified two alternative binding modes of NELF, one of which reveals a critical contact with the downstream DNA through the conserved NELF-E basic helix. Upon binding with TFIIS, the EC progressed to the nucleosome to establish a paused EC with a partially unwrapped nucleosome. This paused EC strongly restricts EC progression further downstream. These structures illuminate the mechanism of RNAPII pausing/stalling at the +1 nucleosome.

Indexed as

NucleosomesPromoter Regions, GeneticRNA Polymerase IIAnimalsCryoelectron MicroscopyDNAModels, MolecularProtein BindingTranscriptional Elongation FactorsTranscription FactorsTranscription, GeneticDNAnegative elongation factorNucleosomesRNA Polymerase IITranscriptional Elongation FactorsTranscription Factorstranscription factor S-II

Identifiers

PMID40043114
PMCPMC11881899

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Registered trials

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Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.