The Role of the Carboxyterminal Domain of RNA Polymerase II in Regulating Origins of DNA Replication in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

MCM (minichromosome maintenance) proteins function as a replication licensing factor (RLF-M), which contributes to limiting initiation of DNA replication to once per cell cycle. In the present study we show that a truncation of the pol II CTD in a S. cerevisiae strain harboring a mutation in mcm5 partially reverses its ts phenotype and improves maintenance of CEN/ARS minichromosomes. We correlate this phenotype to effects on DNA replication rather than to effects on transcription or specific gene expression. We also demonstrate that a similar truncation of the CTD reduces minichromosome stability and impairs stimulation of DNA replication by trans-activators and that tethering of recombinant pol II CTD to an origin of replication has a significant stimulatory effect on minichromosome stability. Furthermore, we show that pol II is recruited to ARS1. We propose that in S. cerevisiae a mechanism of coordinating pol II transcription and DNA replication is mediated by the CTD of pol II.