Multiple interactions stabilize a single paused transcription intermediate in which hairpin to 3′ end spacing distinguishes pause and termination pathways

Abstract

Transcription is delayed in the leader regions of the Escherichia coli trp and his operons by multipartite pause signals that consist of four components: a nascent RNA structure (the pause hairpin), the 10 or 11 nt 3′-proximal region between the pause hairpin and the RNA 3′ end, the bases in the active site, and ∼14 bp of duplex DNA downstream from the pause site. Results described in the accompanying paper suggest that the his pause hairpin slows nucleotide addition via interaction with an easily disordered surface on RNA polymerase. Here we report that the four pause signal components slow nucleotide addition in a single kinetic intermediate. Formation of the paused transcription complex, in contrast, involves synergistic effects of RNA and DNA sequences that select the wild-type pause site from among several adjacent possibilities. Extending the pause hairpin with one G·C base-pair reduces pausing, apparently by interfering with pause hairpin interaction; adding a second C·G base-pair that reduces the 3′-proximal RNA to 9 nt or less (within the 7 to 9 nt characteristic of ρ-independent terminators) induces transcript release. We propose that escape from the pause is governed by a rate-limiting isomerization that may require substrate NTP binding to re-establish the active site geometry, whereas transcript release and termination ensue when the hairpin interaction is weakened and isomerization to an active conformation is blocked.