{"entity": "publication", "iuid": "08c1b131d7ef46bba81d3dac303fd364", "timestamp": "2026-08-11T07:50:25.823Z", "links": {"self": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/08c1b131d7ef46bba81d3dac303fd364.json"}, "display": {"href": "https://publications-affiliated.scilifelab.se/publication/08c1b131d7ef46bba81d3dac303fd364"}}, "title": "Stress-induced transcriptional memory accelerates promoter-proximal pause release and decelerates termination over mitotic divisions.", "authors": [{"family": "Vihervaara", "given": "Anniina", "initials": "A"}, {"family": "Mahat", "given": "Dig Bijay", "initials": "DB"}, {"family": "Himanen", "given": "Samu V", "initials": "SV"}, {"family": "Blom", "given": "Malin A H", "initials": "MAH"}, {"family": "Lis", "given": "John T", "initials": "JT"}, {"family": "Sistonen", "given": "Lea", "initials": "L"}], "type": "journal article", "published": "2021-04-15", "journal": {"title": "Mol. Cell", "issn": "1097-4164", "volume": "81", "issue": "8", "pages": "1715-1731.e6", "issn-l": "1097-2765"}, "abstract": "Heat shock instantly reprograms transcription. Whether gene and enhancer transcription fully recover from stress and whether stress establishes a memory by provoking transcription regulation that persists through mitosis remained unknown. Here, we measured nascent transcription and chromatin accessibility in unconditioned cells and in the daughters of stress-exposed cells. Tracking transcription genome-wide at nucleotide-resolution revealed that cells precisely restored RNA polymerase II (Pol II) distribution at gene bodies and enhancers upon recovery from stress. However, a single heat exposure in embryonic fibroblasts primed a faster gene induction in their daughter cells by increasing promoter-proximal Pol II pausing and by accelerating the pause release. In K562 erythroleukemia cells, repeated stress refined basal and heat-induced transcription over mitotic division and decelerated termination-coupled pre-mRNA processing. The slower termination retained transcripts on the chromatin and reduced recycling of Pol II. These results demonstrate that heat-induced transcriptional memory acts through promoter-proximal pause release and pre-mRNA processing at transcription termination.", "doi": "10.1016/j.molcel.2021.03.007", "pmid": "33784494", "labels": {"SciLifeLab Fellow": null, "Anniina Vihervaara": null}, "xrefs": [{"db": "mid", "key": "NIHMS1683466"}, {"db": "pmc", "key": "PMC8054823"}, {"db": "pii", "key": "S1097-2765(21)00175-1"}], "notes": [], "created": "2022-12-01T12:25:32.061Z", "modified": "2022-12-01T12:25:32.065Z"}