Decoding the role of PHF3 in transcription

Yeast homologue of the PHD finger protein 3 (PHF3) is known to be involved in transcription regulation, but its exact function in mammalian cells has remained unclear. New work from the lab of Dea Slade now shows that PHF3 regulates RNA polymerase II through a specialized domain called SPOC. Their study, published in Nature Communications, identifies PHF3 as a regulator of both transcription and mRNA stability during neuronal differentiation. The work is a collaboration between the Slade Lab, scientists from the Vienna BioCenter, the Institute of Science and Technology (IST, Austria), the Central European Institute of Technology (CEITEC, Czech Republic) and the Max Delbrück Center (Germany).