title: Identification of a prime suspect.
abstract: Recent findings help to define the multiple functions of the sigma subunit of bacterial RNA polymerase, from promoter recognition to the release of pausing during initial RNA elongation; these functions can now be confronted with a crystal structure of an essential domain of the sigma subunit.
authors.affiliation: Biologie Moleculaire, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France.
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Buc
mesh_terms: D001665:Binding Sites; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000201:enzymology* / Q000235:genetics; D008961:Models, Structural; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D017433:Protein Structure, Secondary; D012808:Sigma Factor / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000378:metabolism*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D012808:Sigma Factor; C081775:RNA polymerase sigma 70; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases