Abstract
Prokaryotic transcription is one of the most studied biological systems, with relevance to many fields including the development and use of antibiotics, the construction of synthetic gene networks, and the development of many cutting-edge methodologies. Here, we discuss recent structural, biochemical, and single-molecule biophysical studies targeting the mechanisms of transcription initiation in bacteria, including the formation of the open complex, the reaction of initial transcription, and the promoter escape step that leads to elongation. We specifically focus on the mechanisms employed by the RNA polymerase holoenzyme with the housekeeping sigma factor σ70. The recent progress provides answers to long-held questions, identifies intriguing new behaviours, and opens up fresh questions for the field of transcription.
Highlights
Transcription is a fundamental process in all living organisms and serves as the first step in the flow of information from genes to functional molecules such as proteins or RNAs
This specific initiation requires a protein cofactor named sigma (s) factor; the s factor is a key component that associates with the RNA polymerase core enzyme to yield a RNA polymerase holoenzyme, which is the form of the enzyme required for specific transcription initiation
A separate study found that the s factor was only involved during transcription initiation, and it dissociated from RNA polymerase (RNAP) after this stage to become available to bind another molecule of core RNAP
Summary
Despite the fact that the RNAP can, in principle, perform transcription from any DNA sequence, transcription was shown to initiate from specific DNA sequence elements called promoters inside the bacterial cell [2e5]. This specific initiation requires a protein cofactor named sigma (s) factor; the s factor is a key component that associates with the RNA polymerase core enzyme to yield a RNA polymerase holoenzyme, which is the form of the enzyme required for specific transcription initiation [6]. Bacterial RNAP, promoter architecture and structural organisation of the open complex
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