title: Role of the RNA polymerase sigma subunit in transcription initiation.
abstract: In bacteria, sigma subunits direct the catalytically competent RNA polymerase core enzyme to promoters. Recent advances in our understanding of bacterial RNA polymerase reveal that sigma subunits are intimately involved in all aspects of transcription initiation including promoter location, promoter melting, initiation of RNA synthesis, abortive initiation and promoter escape.
authors.affiliation: SUNY Health Sciences Center at Brooklyn, Brooklyn, NY 11203, USA.
authors.forename: Sergei
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Borukhov
authors.forename: Konstantin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Severinov
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D001412:Bacillus subtilis / Q000235:genetics; D017124:Conserved Sequence; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D004926:Escherichia coli / Q000235:genetics; D015964:Gene Expression Regulation, Bacterial; D008958:Models, Molecular; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D017510:Protein Folding; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D012808:Sigma Factor / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics*; D013824:Thermus / Q000235:genetics; D015533:Transcriptional Activation / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D012808:Sigma Factor; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases