Researchers capture never-before-seen view of gene transcription

Originally written by Katherine Fenz, Rockefeller University on July 3, 2024

 


One of the first-ever images of the open complex that forms when RNAP encounters DNA and kicks off the process of transcription. Credit: Rockefeller University

Every living cell transcribes DNA into RNA. This process begins when an enzyme called RNA polymerase (RNAP) clamps onto DNA. Within a few hundred milliseconds, the DNA double helix unwinds to form a node known as the transcription bubble, so that one exposed DNA strand can be copied into a complementary RNA strand.

How RNAP accomplishes this feat is largely unknown. A snapshot of RNAP in the act of opening that bubble would provide a wealth of information, but the process happens too quickly for current technology to easily capture visualizations of these structures.

Now, a new study published in Nature Structural & Molecular Biology describes E. coli RNAP in the act of opening the transcription bubble.

The findings, captured within 500 milliseconds of RNAP mixing with DNA, shed light on fundamental mechanisms of transcription, and answer long-standing questions about the initiation mechanism and the importance of its various steps.

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