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 E very 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 , capt