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Updated: May 7, 2026

The Multifaceted Benefits of Protein Co-expression in Escherichia coli
Published on: February 5, 2015
Interplay between polymerase II- and polymerase III-assisted expression of overlapping genes
Radoslaw Lukoszek1, Bernd Mueller-Roeber, Zoya Ignatova
1Department of Biochemistry, Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany; Department of Molecular Biology, Institute of Biochemistry and Biology, University of Potsdam, Karl-Liebknecht-Str. 24-25, 14476 Potsdam, Germany.
Abstract:
Up to 15% of the genes in different genomes overlap. This architecture, although beneficial for the genome size, represents an obstacle for simultaneous transcription of both genes. Here we analyze the interference between RNA-polymerase II (Pol II) and RNA-polymerase III (Pol III) when transcribing their target genes encoded on opposing strands within the same DNA fragment in Arabidopsis thaliana. The expression of a Pol II-dependent protein-coding gene negatively correlated with the transcription of a Pol III-dependent, tRNA-coding gene set. We suggest that the architecture of the overlapping genes introduces an additional layer of control of gene expression.
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