title: The Escherichia coli RNA polymerase alpha subunit: structure and function.
abstract: Recent work has established that the Escherichia coli RNA polymerase alpha subunit consists of an amino-terminal domain containing determinants for interaction with the remainder of RNA polymerase, a carboxy-terminal domain containing determinants for interaction with DNA and interaction with transcriptional activator proteins, and a 13-36 amino acid unstructured and/or flexible linker. These findings suggest a simple, integrated model for the mechanism of involvement of alpha in promoter recognition and transcriptional activation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey 08855, USA.
authors.forename: R H
authors.initials: RH
authors.lastname: Ebright
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Busby
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000201:enzymology*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011487:Protein Conformation
chemical_list: D004269:DNA, Bacterial; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases