RNA polymerase II clusters form in line with liquid phase wetting of chromatin

Abstract

It is essential for cells to control which genes are transcribed into RNA. In eukaryotes, two major control points are recruitment of RNA polymerase II (Pol II) into a paused state and subsequent pause release to begin transcript elongation. Pol II associates with macromolecular clusters during recruitment, but it remains unclear how Pol II recruitment and pause release might affect these clusters. Here, we show that clusters exhibit morphologies that are in line with wetting of chromatin by a liquid phase enriched in recruited Pol II. Applying instantaneous structured illumination microscopy and stimulated emission double depletion microscopy to pluripotent zebrafish embryos, we find recruited Pol II associated with large clusters, and elongating Pol II with dispersed clusters. A lattice kinetic Monte Carlo model representing recruited Pol II as a liquid phase reproduced the observed cluster morphologies. In this model, chromatin is a copolymer chain containing regions that attract or repel recruited Pol II, supporting droplet formation by wetting or droplet dispersal, respectively.