title: Hold on!: RNA polymerase interactions with the nascent RNA modulate transcription elongation and termination.
abstract: Evolutionary related multisubunit RNA polymerases from all three domains of life, Eukarya, Archaea and Bacteria, have common structural and functional properties. We have recently shown that two RNAP subunits, F/E (RPB4/7)-which are conserved between eukaryotes and Archaea but have no bacterial homologues-interact with the nascent RNA chain and thereby profoundly modulate RNAP activity. Overall F/E increases transcription processivity, but it also stimulates transcription termination in a sequence-dependent manner. In addition to RNA-binding, these two apparently opposed processes are likely to involve an allosteric mechanism of the RNAP clamp. Spt4/5 is the only known RNAP-associated transcription factor that is conserved in all three domains of life, and it stimulates elongation similar to RNAP subunits F/E. Spt4/5 enhances processivity in a fashion that is independent of the nontemplate DNA strand, by interacting with the RNAP clamp. Whereas the molecular mechanism of Spt4/5 is universally conserved in evolution, the added functionality of F/E-like complexes has emerged after the split of the bacterial and archaeoeukaryotic lineages. Interestingly, bacteriophage-encoded antiterminator proteins could, in theory, fulfil an analogous function in the bacterial RNAP.
authors.affiliation: UCL Institute for Structural and Molecular Biology, Division of Biosciences, London, UK.
authors.forename: Dina
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Grohmann
authors.forename: Finn
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Werner
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases / Q000737:chemistry / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D008958:Models, Molecular; D010443:Peptide Chain Termination, Translational / Q000502:physiology*; D011485:Protein Binding / Q000502:physiology; D012313:RNA / Q000378:metabolism*; D024363:Transcription Initiation Site; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology; D035602:Transcriptional Elongation Factors / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D035602:Transcriptional Elongation Factors; D012313:RNA; D012321:DNA-Directed RNA Polymerases
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