title: Transcriptional noise and the fidelity of initiation by RNA polymerase II.
abstract: Eukaryotes transcribe much of their genomes, but little is known about the fidelity of transcriptional initiation by RNA polymerase II in vivo. I suggest that 90% of Pol II initiation events in yeast represent transcriptional noise, and that the specificity of initiation is comparable to that of DNA-binding proteins and other biological processes. This emphasizes the need to develop criteria that distinguish transcriptional noise from transcription with a biological function.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. kevin@hms.harvard.edu
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Struhl
mesh_terms: D016681:Genome, Fungal; D012319:RNA Polymerase II / Q000502:physiology*; D012331:RNA, Fungal / Q000096:biosynthesis; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000096:biosynthesis; D012441:Saccharomyces cerevisiae / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D012331:RNA, Fungal; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012319:RNA Polymerase II