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The super elongation complex (SEC) family in transcriptional control

Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology volume 13, pages 543–547 (2012)Cite this article

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Abstract

The super elongation complex (SEC) consists of the RNA polymerase II (Pol II) elongation factors eleven-nineteen Lys-rich leukaemia (ELL) proteins, positive transcription elongation factor b (P-TEFb) and several frequent mixed lineage leukaemia (MLL) translocation partners. It is one of the most active P-TEFb-containing complexes required for rapid transcriptional induction in the presence or absence of paused Pol II. The SEC was found to regulate the transcriptional elongation checkpoint control (TECC) stage of transcription, and misregulation of this stage is associated with cancer pathogenesis. Recent studies have shown that the SEC belongs to a larger family of SEC-like complexes, which includes SEC-L2 and SEC-L3, each with distinct gene target specificities.

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Figure 1: Distinct classes of genes are regulated by the SEC and LEC families from Drosophila melanogaster to mammals.
Figure 2: Diverse recruitment mechanisms of the SEC in disease.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are grateful to their colleague E. Smith, for critical reading of this manuscript and valuable comments. They also thank L. Shilatifard for editorial assistance. The authors would like to apologize to their colleagues whose work was not cited owing to space limitations. The analyses of the SEC family was performed to fulfill, in part, requirements for the Ph.D. research of C.L. as a student registered with the Open University. Studies in the Shilatifard laboratory on the SEC family are supported by the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) grants R01CA150265 and R01CA89455.

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  1. Zhuojuan Luo, Chengqi Lin and Ali Shilatifard are at the Stowers Institute for Medical Research, 1000 East 50th Street, Kansas City, Missouri 64110, USA.,

    Zhuojuan Luo, Chengqi Lin & Ali Shilatifard

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Correspondence to Ali Shilatifard.

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Luo, Z., Lin, C. & Shilatifard, A. The super elongation complex (SEC) family in transcriptional control. Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol 13, 543–547 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrm3417

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