Related Experiment Video
Updated: Oct 15, 2025

Artificial RNA Polymerase II Elongation Complexes for Dissecting Co-transcriptional RNA Processing Events
Published on: May 13, 2019
Watching the bacterial RNA polymerase transcription reaction by time-dependent soak-trigger-freeze X-ray
Yeonoh Shin1, Katsuhiko S Murakami1
1Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, The Center for RNA Molecular Biology, The Pennsylvania State University, University Park, PA, United States.
Abstract:
RNA polymerase (RNAP) is the central enzyme of gene expression, which transcribes DNA to RNA. All cellular organisms synthesize RNA with highly conserved multi-subunit DNA-dependent RNAPs, except mitochondrial RNA transcription, which is carried out by a single-subunit RNAP. Over 60 years of extensive research has elucidated the structures and functions of cellular RNAPs. In this review, we introduce a brief structural feature of bacterial RNAP, the most well characterized model enzyme, and a novel experimental approach known as "Time-dependent soak-trigger-freeze X-ray crystallography" which can be used to observe the RNA synthesis reaction at atomic resolution in real time. This principle methodology can be used for elucidating fundamental mechanisms of cellular RNAP transcription.
Related Concept Videos
Bacterial RNA Polymerase
In most genes, the transcription site is a single base present upstream of the coding sequence. Though RNAP is a catalytically efficient enzyme, it does not recognize...
Bacterial Transcription
Transcription can be divided into three main stages, each involving distinct DNA sequences to guide the polymerase. These are:
Transcription Initiation
The promoters and enhancers and their accessory proteins allow tight regulation of...
Eukaryotic RNA Polymerases
All three eukaryotic RNAPs require specific transcription factors, of which the...
Transcription Attenuation in Prokaryotes
There are several different mechanisms used to attenuate transcription. In ribosome mediated...
Coordination of Gene Expression Processes in Bacteria

