Abstract
Transcription of many genes in metazoans is subject to polymerase pausing, which corresponds to the transient arrest of transcriptionally engaged polymerase. It occurs mainly at promoter proximal regions and is not well understood. In particular, a genome-wide measurement of pausing times at high resolution has been lacking.
We present here an extension of PRO-seq, time variant PRO-seq (TV-PRO-seq), that allowed us to estimate genome-wide pausing times at single base resolution. Its application to human cells reveals that promoter proximal pausing is surprisingly short compared to other regions and displays an intricate pattern. We also find precisely conserved pausing profiles at tRNA and rRNA genes and identified DNA motifs associated with pausing time. Finally, we show how chromatin states reflect differences in pausing times.