During infection by human adenovirus (HAdV), the proteins encoded by the early 
region 1A (E1A) gene bind and appropriate components of the cellular 
transcriptional machinery to activate the transcription of viral early genes. 
Previously, we identified roles for the human Bre1 (hBre1) and hPaf1 complexes 
in E1A-mediated transcriptional activation of HAdV early genes. Here we show 
that E1A binds hBre1 directly and that this complex targets the hPaf1 complex 
via the Rtf1 subunit. Depletion of hPaf1 reduces E1A-dependent activation of 
transcription from the E2e, E3, and E4 viral transcription units, and this does 
not result from a reduced ability of RNA polymerase II to be recruited to the 
promoter-proximal regions of these genes. In contrast, depletion of hPaf1 
reduces the occupancy of RNA polymerase II across these transcription units. 
This is accompanied by reductions in the level of H3K36 trimethylation, a 
posttranslational histone modification associated with efficient transcriptional 
elongation, and the number of full-length transcripts from these genes. 
Together, these results indicate that E1A uses hBre1 to recruit the hPaf1 
complex in order to optimally activate viral early transcription by enhancing 
transcriptional elongation.
IMPORTANCE: This work provides the mechanism by which the hPaf1 complex 
contributes to E1A-dependent activation of early gene transcription. The work 
also demonstrates that E1A induces gene expression by stimulating 
transcriptional elongation, in addition to its better-characterized effects on 
transcriptional initiation.