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Transcription Elongation: History
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Contributor: Yu Peng

Transcription elongation is the stage of RNA synthesis in which an RNA polymerase, assembled in a stable elongation complex with a DNA template and nascent RNA, moves along the template strand and sequentially incorporates ribonucleoside triphosphates into the 3′ end of the RNA molecule. Catalysis proceeds through template-directed base pairing, phosphodiester-bond formation at the polymerase active center, translocation of the enzyme–nucleic-acid complex, and displacement of the growing RNA transcript from the DNA–RNA hybrid [1][2]. The elongation complex maintains processive RNA synthesis while undergoing conformational changes and responding to sequence-encoded pause signals, DNA topology, chromatin or nucleoprotein structure, and associated elongation factors. In eukaryotic RNA polymerase II systems, phosphorylation of the C-terminal domain and recruitment of co-transcriptional RNA-processing and chromatin-associated factors form integral features of productive elongation [3].

  • RNA polymerase
  • Elongation complex
  • Nascent RNA
  • Transcriptional pausing

🔵 RNA and protein synthesis mechanisms • 🟣 Molecular Biology • 🟡 Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology • 🔴 Life Sciences

References

  1. Roger D. Kornberg; The molecular basis of eukaryotic transcription. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. 2007, 104, 12955-12961, 10.1073/pnas.0704138104.
  2. Evgeny Nudler; RNA Polymerase Active Center: The Molecular Engine of Transcription. Annu. Rev. Biochem. 2009, 78, 335-361, 10.1146/annurev.biochem.76.052705.164655.
  3. Kevin M. Harlen; L. Stirling Churchman; The code and beyond: transcription regulation by the RNA polymerase II carboxy-terminal domain. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 2017, 18, 263-273, 10.1038/nrm.2017.10.
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