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Updated: Jun 18, 2026

DNA-Tethered RNA Polymerase for Programmable In vitro Transcription and Molecular Computation
Published on: December 29, 2021
The T box mechanism: tRNA as a regulatory molecule
Nicholas J Green1, Frank J Grundy, Tina M Henkin
1Department of Microbiology, Center for RNA Biology, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, USA.
None:
The T box mechanism is widely used in Gram-positive bacteria to regulate expression of aminoacyl-tRNA synthetase genes and genes involved in amino acid biosynthesis and uptake. Binding of a specific uncharged tRNA to a riboswitch element in the nascent transcript causes a structural change in the transcript that promotes expression of the downstream coding sequence. In most cases, this occurs by stabilization of an antiterminator element that competes with formation of a terminator helix. Specific tRNA recognition by the nascent transcript results in increased expression of genes important for tRNA aminoacylation in response to decreased pools of charged tRNA.
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