Multisubunit RNA polymerases melt only a single DNA base pair downstream of the active site

Ekaterina Kashkina, Michael Anikin, Florian Brueckner, Elisabeth Lehmann, Sergey N. Kochetkov, William T. McAllister, Patrick Cramer, Dmitry Temiakov

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

18 Scopus citations

Abstract

To extend the nascent transcript, RNA polymerases must melt the DNA duplex downstream from the active site to expose the next acceptor base for substrate binding and incorporation. A number of mechanisms have been proposed to account for the manner in which the correct substrate is selected, and these differ in their predictions as to how far the downstream DNA is melted. Using fluorescence quenching experiments, we provide evidence that cellular RNA polymerases from bacteria and yeast melt only one DNA base pair downstream from the active site. These data argue against a model in which multiple NTPs are lined up downstream of the active site.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)21578-21582
Number of pages5
JournalJournal of Biological Chemistry
Volume282
Issue number30
DOIs
StatePublished - Jul 27 2007

All Science Journal Classification (ASJC) codes

  • Biochemistry
  • Molecular Biology
  • Cell Biology

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