Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42296152›Full record

ArticlePLoS biology2026

Evolutionary analysis of transcription elongation factors reveals conserved and lineage-specific regulatory domains.

Alex M Francette, Aakash Grover, Nathan Clark, Karen M Arndt

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in PLoS biology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 1 paper.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
1citing 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

1 citing paper in PubMed.

  1. Article
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

4 authors.

Alex M FrancetteDepartment of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1145-5847
Aakash GroverDepartment of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
Nathan ClarkDepartment of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America.
Karen M ArndtDepartment of Biological Sciences, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States of America.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1320-9957

Funding

Title: Functional Annotation of Genomes via Phenotypic Convergence within Large Multi-species AlignmentsR01HG009299 · NHGRI · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · PI Maria D Chikina, Nathaniel L Clark · 2017 to 2026
$4.1M
Mechanisms that Couple Chromatin Modifications to TranscriptionR35GM141964 · NIGMS · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · PI KAREN M ARNDT · 2021 to 2026
$2.8M
High-Throughput Computing for Genomics and Bioinformatics ResearchS10OD028483 · OD · UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH AT PITTSBURGH · PI LEE, ADRIAN V · 2021 to 2021
$574k
NHGRI NIH HHS R01 HG009299NIGMS NIH HHS R35 GM141964NIH HHS S10 OD028483
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

In eukaryotes, transcription elongation factors (TEFs) associate with RNA Polymerase II (RNAPII) to facilitate gene expression and couple transcription to co-transcriptional processes, including chromatin regulation and RNA processing. To further our understanding of TEF biology, we developed a domain-centric analysis pipeline to perform a broad survey of 10 TEF orthologs-Paf1, Ctr9, Cdc73, Rtf1, Leo1, Spt4, Spt5, Spt6, Spn1, and Elf1-across the Tree of Life and analyze their evolutionary patterns in a structural context. We report evidence for all 10 TEFs being present in the last eukaryotic common ancestor, indicating that mechanisms of TEF-mediated transcription regulation are both ancient and conserved. However, some early-diverging eukaryotic clades exhibit signs of altered TEF domain composition. A comparative phylogenetic analysis highlighted conserved regions of TEFs that are detected in both metazoans and fungi and other regions that appear clade-specific, detected only in metazoans. These observations, together with additional insights generated from evolutionary rate covariation analysis, shed light on under-characterized aspects of TEFs, including domains for which functions have yet to be dissected.

Indexed as

Evolution, MolecularTranscriptional Elongation FactorsAnimalsConserved SequenceHumansPhylogenyProtein DomainsRNA Polymerase IITranscription FactorsTranscription, GeneticRNA Polymerase IITranscriptional Elongation FactorsTranscription Factors

Identifiers

PMID42296152
PMCPMC13289920

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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.