All RNAPs (RNA polymerases) repeatedly make use of their DNA template by progressing through the transcription cycle multiple times. During transcription initiation and elongation, distinct sets of transcription factors associate with multisubunit RNAPs and modulate their nucleic-acid-binding and catalytic properties. Between the initiation and elongation phases of the cycle, the factors have to be exchanged by a largely unknown mechanism. We have shown that the binding sites for initiation and elongation factors are overlapping and that the binding of the factors to RNAP is mutually exclusive. This ensures an efficient exchange or ‘swapping’ of factors and could furthermore assist RNAP during promoter escape, enabling robust transcription. A similar mechanism applies to the bacterial RNAP system. The elongation factors are evolutionarily conserved between the bacterial (NusG) and archaeo-eukaryotic (Spt5) systems; however, the initiation factors [σ and TBP (TATA-box-binding protein)/TF (transcription factor) B respectively] are not. Therefore we propose that this factor-swapping mechanism, operating in all three domains of life, is the outcome of convergent evolution.
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Conference Article|
January 29 2013
Archaeology of RNA polymerase: factor swapping during the transcription cycle
Fabian Blombach;
Fabian Blombach
1RNAP laboratory, University College London, Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Division of Biosciences, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, U.K.
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Tina Daviter;
Tina Daviter
1RNAP laboratory, University College London, Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Division of Biosciences, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, U.K.
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Daniel Fielden;
Daniel Fielden
1RNAP laboratory, University College London, Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Division of Biosciences, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, U.K.
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Dina Grohmann;
Dina Grohmann
1RNAP laboratory, University College London, Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Division of Biosciences, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, U.K.
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Katherine Smollett;
Katherine Smollett
1RNAP laboratory, University College London, Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Division of Biosciences, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, U.K.
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Finn Werner
Finn Werner
1
1RNAP laboratory, University College London, Institute of Structural and Molecular Biology, Division of Biosciences, Gower Street, London WC1E 6BT, U.K.
1To whom correspondence should be addressed (email[email protected]).
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Publisher: Portland Press Ltd
Received:
October 23 2012
Online ISSN: 1470-8752
Print ISSN: 0300-5127
© The Authors Journal compilation © 2013 Biochemical Society
2013
Biochem Soc Trans (2013) 41 (1): 362–367.
Article history
Received:
October 23 2012
Citation
Fabian Blombach, Tina Daviter, Daniel Fielden, Dina Grohmann, Katherine Smollett, Finn Werner; Archaeology of RNA polymerase: factor swapping during the transcription cycle. Biochem Soc Trans 1 February 2013; 41 (1): 362–367. doi: https://doi.org/10.1042/BST20120274
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