Nuclear microRNAs release paused Pol II via the DDX21-CDK9 complex

RNA activation (RNAa) is an uncharacterized mechanism of transcriptional activation mediated by small RNAs, such as microRNAs (miRNAs). A critical issue in RNAa research is that it is difficult to distinguish between changes in gene expression caused indirectly by post-transcriptional regulation and direct induction of gene expression by RNAa. Therefore, in this study, we seek to identify a key factor involved in RNAa, using the induction of ZMYND10 by miR-34a as a system to evaluate RNAa. We identify the positive transcription elongation factors CDK9 and DDX21, which form a complex with nuclear AGO and TNRC6A, as important transcriptional activators of RNAa. In addition, we find that inhibition of DDX21 suppresses RNAa by miR-34a and other miRNAs without inhibiting post-transcriptional regulation. Our findings reveal a strong connection between RNAa and release of paused Pol II, facilitating RNAa research by making it possible to separately analyze post-transcriptional regulation and RNAa.