title: Understanding the Molecular Basis of RNA Polymerase II Transcription.
abstract: Synthetic nucleic acid analogues have profoundly advanced our knowledge of DNA and RNA, as well as the complex biological processes that involve nucleic acids. As a pivotal enzyme, eukaryotic RNA polymerase II (Pol II) is responsible for transcribing DNA into messenger RNA, which serves as a template to direct protein synthesis. Chemically modified nucleic acid analogues have greatly facilitated the structural elucidation of RNA Pol II elongation complex and understanding the key chemical interactions governing RNA Pol II transcriptional fidelity. This review addresses major progress in RNA polymerase II mechanistic studies using modified nucleic acid analogues in recent years.
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Diego, Skaggs School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences.
authors.forename: Su
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: University of California, San Diego, Skaggs School of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences.
authors.forename: Dong
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Wang
keywords: RNA polymerase II; chemical biology; nucleic acids; structural biology; transcription