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Published September 17, 1999 | public
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Electron Crystal Structure of an RNA Polymerase II Transcription Elongation Complex

Poglitsch, Claudia L.
Meredith, Gavin D.
Gnatt, Averell L.
Jensen, Grant J. ORCID icon
Chang, Wei-hau
Fu, Jianhua
Kornberg, Roger D.
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Abstract

The structure of an actively transcribing complex, containing yeast RNA polymerase II with associated template DNA and product RNA, was determined by electron crystallography. Nucleic acid, in all likelihood the "transcription bubble" at the active center of the enzyme, occupies a previously noted 25 Å channel in the protein structure. Details are indicative of a roughly 90° bend of the DNA between upstream and downstream regions. The DNA apparently lies entirely on one face of the polymerase, rather than passing through a hole to the opposite side, as previously suggested.

Additional Information

© 1999 Cell Press. Received 7 July 1999, Revised 10 August 1999. We thank Lynne Mercer for advice on electron microscopy, Yang Li for polymerase used in a portion of the work, and members of our research group for helpful advice and discussions, especially Kerstin Leuther, David Bushnell, and Francisco Asturias. C. L. P. was a Damon Runyon-Walter Winchell Postdoctoral Fellow (DRG-1209) and a Katherine McCormick Scholar. G. D. M. was a National Science Foundation Fellow and a National Institutes of Health (NIH) Molecular Biophysics Training Program grant (2T32GM082494) trainee. A. G. was sponsored by the USAMRMC, DOD, Breast Cancer Initiative, DAMD17-97-7099. G. J. J. was supported by a Medical Scientist Training Program grant (GM07365) provided by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences at the NIH. This research was supported by NIH grant AI21144 to R. D. K.

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Identifiers Funding Dates
Created:
August 19, 2023
Modified:
October 19, 2023