Spt4 promotes Pol I processivity and transcription elongation

The goal of this study was to determine the effect of Spt4 on transcription by Pol I in vivo. Therefore, Native Elongating Transcript Sequencing (NET-seq) was used to evaluate the occupancy of Pol I in wild-type and spt4? strains. We determined that in spt4? yeast, there was a processivity defect and Pol I accumulated at the 5' end of the 35S gene. Additionally, we observed that there was an enrichment for G-rich sequences just downstream of a high A content in the spt4? strain, indicating that perhaps Spt4 plays a role in helping to propel Pol I through these regions of the rDNA. Altogether, this study suggests that Spt4 is an important transcription factor for Pol I by promoting polymerase processivity. Overall design: NET-seq was utilized to determine Pol I occupancy differences between wild-type and spt4? yeast, with both strains in triplicate.