title: G-quadruplex structures in RNA stimulate mitochondrial transcription termination and primer formation.
abstract: The human mitochondrial transcription machinery generates the primers required for initiation of leading-strand DNA replication. According to one model, the 3' end of the primer is defined by transcription termination at conserved sequence block II (CSB II) in the mitochondrial DNA control region. We here demonstrate that this site-specific termination event is caused by G-quadruplex structures formed in nascent RNA upon transcription of CSB II. We also demonstrate that a poly-dT stretch downstream of CSB II has a modest stimulatory effect on the termination efficiency. The mechanism is reminiscent of Rho-independent transcription termination in prokaryotes, with the exception that a G-quadruplex structure replaces the hairpin loop formed in bacterial mRNA during transcription of terminator sequences.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medical Biochemistry and Cell Biology, University of Gothenburg, SE-405 30 Gothenborg, Sweden.
authors.forename: Paulina H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Wanrooij
authors.forename: Jay P
authors.initials: JP
authors.lastname: Uhler
authors.forename: Tomas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Simonsson
authors.forename: Maria
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Falkenberg
authors.forename: Claes M
authors.initials: CM
authors.lastname: Gustafsson
mesh_terms: D017124:Conserved Sequence; D017931:DNA Primers / Q000235:genetics*; D054856:G-Quadruplexes; D008928:Mitochondria / Q000737:chemistry* / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry*; D013728:Terminator Regions, Genetic; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D017931:DNA Primers; D012313:RNA
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