Coupling RNA polymerase II transcription with pre-mRNA processing.

How are transcription and processing of mRNA precursors co-ordinated? The past two years has witnessed exciting insights into the mechanism which targets the mRNA processing machinery to RNA polymerase II (pol II) transcription complexes and closely integrates processing with transcription. Protein-protein contacts have been discovered between the pol II transcription machinery and RNA processing factors; furthermore, a unique domain of pol II has been identified that not only recruits processing factors but also controls their activity.