Structure of the human RNA polymerase I elongation complex

Dan Zhao; Weida Liu; Ke Chen; Zihan Wu; Huirong Yang; Yanhui Xu

doi:10.1038/s41421-021-00335-5

Structure of the human RNA polymerase I elongation complex

Cell Discov. 2021 Oct 20;7(1):97. doi: 10.1038/s41421-021-00335-5.

Authors

Dan Zhao^#¹, Weida Liu^#¹, Ke Chen^#¹, Zihan Wu¹, Huirong Yang², Yanhui Xu^{3

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Affiliations

¹ Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Radiation Oncology, and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Medical Epigenetics, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, Shanghai, China.
² Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Radiation Oncology, and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Medical Epigenetics, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, Shanghai, China. yanghr@fudan.edu.cn.
³ Fudan University Shanghai Cancer Center, Institutes of Biomedical Sciences, State Key Laboratory of Genetic Engineering, Shanghai Key Laboratory of Radiation Oncology, and Shanghai Key Laboratory of Medical Epigenetics, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, Shanghai, China. xuyh@fudan.edu.cn.
⁴ The International Co-laboratory of Medical Epigenetics and Metabolism, Ministry of Science and Technology of China, Department of Systems Biology for Medicine, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Shanghai Medical College of Fudan University, Shanghai, China. xuyh@fudan.edu.cn.
⁵ Human Phenome Institute, Collaborative Innovation Center of Genetics and Development, School of Life Sciences, Fudan University, Shanghai, China. xuyh@fudan.edu.cn.
⁶ State Key Laboratory of Reproductive Regulation and Breeding of Grassland Livestock, School of Life Sciences, Inner Mongolia University, Hohhot, Inner Mongolia, China. xuyh@fudan.edu.cn.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Eukaryotic RNA polymerase I (Pol I) transcribes ribosomal DNA and generates RNA for ribosome synthesis. Pol I accounts for the majority of cellular transcription activity and dysregulation of Pol I transcription leads to cancers and ribosomopathies. Despite extensive structural studies of yeast Pol I, structure of human Pol I remains unsolved. Here we determined the structures of the human Pol I in the pre-translocation, post-translocation, and backtracked states at near-atomic resolution. The single-subunit peripheral stalk lacks contacts with the DNA-binding clamp and is more flexible than the two-subunit stalk in yeast Pol I. Compared to yeast Pol I, human Pol I possesses a more closed clamp, which makes more contacts with DNA. The Pol I structure in the post-cleavage backtracked state shows that the C-terminal zinc ribbon of RPA12 inserts into an open funnel and facilitates "dinucleotide cleavage" on mismatched DNA-RNA hybrid. Critical disease-associated mutations are mapped on Pol I regions that are involved in catalysis and complex organization. In summary, the structures provide new sights into human Pol I complex organization and efficient proofreading.