title: How does Pol II overcome the nucleosome barrier?
abstract: DNA packaging into chromatin presents a strong barrier to RNA polymerase II transcription. In this issue of Molecular Cell, Kireeva et al. describe a minimal system to examine polymerase II transcription through a positioned nucleosome and show, surprisingly, that transcription leads to the displacement of an H2A.H2B dimer from the nucleosome without altering nucleosome position.
authors.affiliation: Department of Molecular Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853, USA.
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Adelman
authors.forename: John T
authors.initials: JT
authors.lastname: Lis
mesh_terms: D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009690:Nucleic Acid Conformation; D009707:Nucleosomes / Q000378:metabolism*; D012319:RNA Polymerase II / Q000378:metabolism*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D009707:Nucleosomes; D004247:DNA; D012319:RNA Polymerase II