Journal: mBio
Article Title: Functional insight into cyclin-dependent kinase (CDK)7 via chemical inhibition of the priority fungal pathogen Cryptococcus neoformans
doi: 10.1128/mbio.02898-25
Figure Lengend Snippet: Model depicting the role of Cn CDK7 in regulating the cell cycle, transcriptional processes, and translation. Cell cycle regulation: in the nucleus, Cn CDK7 in the CAK complex activates Cdk1 to promote cell cycle progression through G 2 /M. Activated Cdk1 also phosphorylates Cdc24 to promote actin polymerization. Cn CDK7 either directly phosphorylates components of the Hog1 signaling pathway or acts through an intermediary protein affected by Cn CDK7-dependent phosphorylation. Transcription: also in the nucleus, TFIIH-associated CAK phosphorylates Ser5 on the CTD of the Rpb1 subunit of RNAPII (see ), allowing RNAPII release from the promoter to initiate transcription. Ser5 phosphorylated-RNAPII pauses ~30 bp post-initiation and interacts with the capping enzymes, Ceg1p (RNA guanylyltransferase) and Cet1p (RNA triphosphatase), to form a capping complex. This complex allows the co-transcriptional formation of the 7-methylguanosine (7 mG) cap (red circle) on the 5′ end of newly synthesized (nascent) mRNA, ensuring mRNA stability, nuclear export, and translation. Cbc1 (mammalian Cbp80 homolog) and Cbc2 (mammalian Cbp20 homolog) then form a heterodimeric cap binding complex (CBC) that binds to the 7mG cap to stimulate formation of the pre-initiation complex (PIC) via the transcription regulator, Mot1. Post-release of the RNAPII transcriptional pause, Cn CDK7 is essential for Ser2 phosphorylation of Rpb1 to allow transcription elongation (see ). This occurs via Cn CDK7-mediated activation of CDK9. The CBC also links capping to splicing by promoting the recruitment of U1 snRNP to the 5′ splice site to initiate spliceosome assembly. The spliceosome, comprising U1–U6 snRNPs, Sf3b1, Msl5 (binds to the branch point sequences of the intron), and Cwf19 (facilitates spliceosome disassembly and mRNA release), mediates intron removal. As in humans, Cn CDK7 may also enhance spliceosome maturation by activating Cn CDK11 to phosphorylate Sf3b1 . Translation: in the cytoplasm, Pab1 binds the 3′ poly(A) tail of mature mRNAs, protecting them from degradation. Two major deadenylation complexes then act sequentially to regulate mRNA stability and turnover: the Pan2/Pan3 complex trims the poly(A) tail, while the Ccr4-NOT complex trims it further, leading to mRNA decay. The CBC at the 5′ end is replaced by eIF4E, which, along with eIF4A and eIF4G, initiates recruitment of additional eIFs to assemble ribosomal subunits on the mRNA, ultimately leading to the formation of a functional ribosome and the initiation of translation. Proteins with solid lines were identified in the CDK7 phosphoproteome (see ), while proteins, interactions, and functions delineated by broken lines are based on studies in higher eukaryotes and the presence of the homologous protein in Cn .
Article Snippet: ChromoTek mNeonGreen-Trap Agarose beads (cat. no. nta) and V5-Trap agarose beads (cat. no. v5ta) were used to pull down mNeonGreen-tagged CDK7 from the cleared lysates, with KN99 serving as a control for untagged CDK7.
Techniques: Phospho-proteomics, Synthesized, Binding Assay, Activation Assay, Functional Assay