Heat Shock induces premature transcript termination and reconfigures the human transcriptome

The Heat Shock response (HSR) is a highly conserved transcriptional program induced by the exposure to a variety of environmental stressors. Following an insult, a small subset of genes, known as the Heat Shock genes, are rapidly induced by the Heat Shock Factors (HSFs) to maintain protein homeostasis and ensure cell survival. In parallel, a large portion of the genome becomes repressed. HS associated global gene repression is still largely poorly understood. In this study, we demonstrate that transcription downregulation during Heat shock is mainly achieved by premature transcription termination through the disruption of telescripting. Generating a snapshot of transcriptional activity at different times of HS exposure by pulse-labelling nascent RNA with 4SU.