Coat protein complex I (COPI) vesicles mediate the retrograde transfer of cargo between Golgi cisternae and from the Golgi to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). However, their roles in the cell cycle and proliferation are unclear. This study shows that TANGO6 associates with COPI vesicles via two transmembrane domains. The TANGO6 N- and C-terminal cytoplasmic fragments capture RNA polymerase II subunit B (RPB) 2 in the cis-Golgi during the G1 phase. COPI-docked TANGO6 carries RPB2 to the ER and then to the nucleus. Functional disruption of TANGO6 hinders the nuclear entry of RPB2, which accumulates in the cytoplasm, causing cell cycle arrest in the G1 phase. The conditional depletion or overexpression of TANGO6 in mouse hematopoietic stem cells results in compromised or expanded hematopoiesis. Our study results demonstrate that COPI vesicle-associated TANGO6 plays a role in the regulation of cell cycle progression by directing the nuclear transfer of RPB2, making it a potential target for promoting or arresting cell expansion.
Human embryonic stem cell (hESC) neural differentiation involves extensive APA; however, reliance on short-read sequencing in prior studies has offered only a limited view of its complexity and dynamic regulation. Here, we integrated Oxford Nanopore (ONT) long-read sequencing with Illumina short-read sequencing to systematically map the APA landscape during early hESC neural differentiation. Our hybrid approach uncovered remarkable transcriptomic complexity, identifying 20,823 novel transcripts and 8241 previously unannotated poly(A) sites (PASs). We characterized distinct dynamic patterns of 3′ UTR-APA across differentiation and pinpointed SOX11 as a key APA-regulated target. Furthermore, we observed stage-specific enrichment of intronic APA in NPCs, as exemplified by SLC1A3, and performed a comprehensive, large-scale identification of high-confidence exon APA events. These results substantially expand the catalog of PASs during human neural differentiation and provide new insights into how APA-mediated post-transcriptional regulation contributes to cell-fate decisions.