Investigating the role of Paf1 in transcription by RNA polymerase I

Polymerase-associated factor 1 complex (Paf1C) has been identified to promote transcription by Pols I and II and is conserved across eukaryotes. This transcription factor has been well-studied for Pol II, but its role in transcription by Pol I has not been fully characterized. Therefore, the goal of this study was to use a high-resolution technique, native elongating transcript sequencing (NET-seq), to investigate the effect of the loss of two of the five Paf1C subunits (Paf1 and Cdc73) on Pol I occupancy in yeast. Most notably, we found that in both paf1D and cdc73D mutants, there was a significant reduction in Pol I occupancy at the 5' end of the rDNA template as compared to WT yeast. Overall, our results suggest that Paf1C is an important transcription elongation factor for Pol I. Overall design: NET-seq libraries were prepared for two replicates each of WT, cdc73?, and paf1? yeast.