Cyclin C/CDK8 is a novel CTD kinase associated with RNA polymerase II

A number of cyclin/kinase complexes have been identified in mammalian cells that are essential for controlled cell proliferation. Cyclin C was isolated by virtue of its ability to rescue the triple CLN mutation in yeast; however, until now its function has remained unclear. Cyclin C associates with...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inOncogene Vol. 12; no. 12; p. 2631
Main Authors Rickert, P, Seghezzi, W, Shanahan, F, Cho, H, Lees, E
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published England 20.06.1996
Subjects
Amino Acid Sequence
Animals
Cell Cycle
Cells, Cultured
Cyclin C
Cyclin H
Cyclin-Dependent Kinase 8
Cyclin-Dependent Kinases
Cyclins - immunology
Cyclins - metabolism
Fungal Proteins - metabolism
Humans
Mice
Molecular Sequence Data
Protein-Serine-Threonine Kinases - metabolism
RNA Polymerase II - metabolism
Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins
Transcription Factors - metabolism
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Summary:A number of cyclin/kinase complexes have been identified in mammalian cells that are essential for controlled cell proliferation. Cyclin C was isolated by virtue of its ability to rescue the triple CLN mutation in yeast; however, until now its function has remained unclear. Cyclin C associates with a novel cyclin dependent kinase, CDK8, and we demonstrate that this complex is associated with kinase activity towards the carboxy-terminal domain (CTD) of RNA polymerase II. We have identified at least two distinct cyclin C/CDK8 containing complexes within the cell, a larger complex over 500 kD in size, that also contains the largest subunit of RNA polymerase II, and a smaller 170 kD species. Both of these cyclin C complexes retain potent CTD kinase activity. We further demonstrate that the cyclin C/CDK8 complex associates with the large subunit of RNA polymerase II in vivo, implicating a potential role for cyclin C/CDK8 in regulating its activities.
ISSN:0950-9232