TFIIS, an elongation factor encoded by DST1 in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, 
stimulates transcript cleavage in arrested RNA polymerase II. Two components of 
the RNA polymerase II machinery, Med13 (Srb9) and Spt8, were isolated as 
two-hybrid partners of the conserved TFIIS N-terminal domain. They belong to the 
Cdk8 module of the Mediator and to a subform of the SAGA co-activator, 
respectively. Co-immunoprecipitation experiments showed that TFIIS can bind the 
Cdk8 module and SAGA in cell-free extracts. spt8Delta and dst1Delta mutants were 
sensitive to nucleotide-depleting drugs and epistatic to null mutants of the RNA 
polymerase II subunit Rpb9, suggesting that their elongation defects are 
mediated by Rpb9. rpb9Delta, spt8Delta and dst1Delta were lethal in cells 
lacking the Rpb4 subunit. The TFIIS N-terminal domain is also strictly required 
for viability in rpb4Delta, although it is not needed for binding to RNA 
polymerase II or for transcript cleavage. It is proposed that TFIIS and the 
Spt8-containing form of SAGA co-operate to rescue RNA polymerase II from 
unproductive elongation complexes, and that the Cdk8 module temporarily blocks 
transcription during transcript cleavage.