Elongator : An Ancestral Complex Driving Transcription and Migration through Protein Acetylation

Abstract EN

Elongator is an evolutionary highly conserved complex.

At least two of its cellular functions rely on the intrinsic lysine acetyl-transferase activity of the Elongator complex.

Its two known substrates—Histone H3 and α-Tubulin—reflect the different roles of Elongator in the cytosol and the nucleus.

A picture seems to emerge in which nuclear Elongator could regulate the transcriptional elongation of a subset of stress-inducible genes through acetylation of Histone H3 in the promoter-distal gene body.

In the cytosol, Elongator-mediated acetylation of α-Tubulin contributes to intracellular trafficking and cell migration.

Defects in both functions of Elongator have been implicated in neurodegenerative disorders.