text: Early studies suggested a minimum of two RNAPs: one which synthesized rRNA in the nucleolus, and one which synthesized other RNA in the nucleoplasm, part of the nucleus but outside the nucleolus. In 1969, biochemists Robert G. Roeder and William Rutter discovered there are total three distinct nuclear RNA polymerases, an additional RNAP that was responsible for transcription of some kind of RNA in the nucleoplasm.  The finding was obtained by the use of ion-exchange chromatography via DEAE coated Sephadex beads. The technique separated the enzymes by the order of the corresponding elutions, Ι,ΙΙ,ΙΙΙ, by increasing the concentration of ammonium sulfate. The enzymes were named according to the order of the elutions, RNAP I, RNAP II, RNAP IΙI. This discovery demonstrated that there was an additional enzyme present in the nucleoplasm, which allowed for the differentiation between RNAP II and RNAP III.
  RNA polymerase II (RNAP2) undergoes regulated transcriptional pausing during early elongation. Various studies has shown that disruption of transcription elongation is implicated in cancer, neurodegeneration, HIV latency etc.