title: The Structural Basis of Transcription: 10 Years After the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
abstract: Transcription is the first step in the expression of genetic information in all living cells. The regulation of transcription underlies cell differentiation, organism development, and the responses of living systems to changes in the environment. During transcription, the enzyme RNA polymerase uses DNA as a template to synthesize a complementary RNA copy from a gene. Herein, we summarize the progress in our understanding of the structural basis of eukaryotic gene transcription that has been made in the ten years since the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was given to Roger Kornberg in 2006. The basis for transcription initiation and RNA chain elongation is emerging, but the intricate mechanisms of transcription regulation remain to be elucidated. The field has also developed hybrid methods for structural biology that combine several techniques to determine the three-dimensional architecture of large and transient macromolecular assemblies.
authors.affiliation: Abteilung für Molekularbiologie, Max Planck Institut für biophysikalische Chemie, Am Fassberg 11, 37077, Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Merle
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Hantsche
authors.affiliation: Abteilung für Molekularbiologie, Max Planck Institut für biophysikalische Chemie, Am Fassberg 11, 37077, Göttingen, Germany.
authors.forename: Patrick
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Cramer
keywords: RNA polymerase; gene transcription; protein-nucleic acid complexes; structural biology; transcription regulation