The yeast 5'-3' exonuclease Rat1p functions during transcription elongation by RNA polymerase II.

Termination of RNA polymerase II (RNAPII) transcription of protein-coding genes occurs downstream of cleavage/polyadenylation sites. According to the "torpedo" model, the 5'-3' exonuclease Rat1p/Xrn2p attacks the newly formed 5' end of the cleaved pre-mRNA, causing the still transcribing RNAPII to terminate. Here we demonstrate a similar role of S. cerevisiae Rat1p within the gene body. We find that the transcription processivity defect imposed on RNAPII by the rpb1-N488D mutation is corrected upon Rat1p inactivation. Importantly, Rat1p-dependent transcription termination occurs upstream the polyadenylation site. Genetic and biochemical evidence demonstrate that mRNA capping is defective in rpb1-N488D cells, which leads to increased levels of Rat1p all along the gene locus. Consistently, Rat1p-dependent RNAPII termination is also observed in the capping-deficient ceg1-63 strain. Our data suggest that Rat1p serves to terminate RNAPII molecules engaged in the production of uncapped RNA, regardless of their position on the gene locus. Copyright 2010 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.