Commentary
Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 14, 103 - 105 (2007)
doi:10.1038/nsmb0207-103
Transcriptional noise and the fidelity of initiation by RNA polymerase II
Kevin Struhl1
- Kevin Struhl is in the Department of Biological Chemistry and Molecular Pharmacology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. e-mail: kevin@hms.harvard.edu
Abstract
Eukaryotes transcribe much of their genomes, but little is known about the fidelity of transcriptional initiation by RNA polymerase II in vivo. I suggest that 
90% of Pol II initiation events in yeast represent transcriptional noise, and that the specificity of initiation is comparable to that of DNA-binding proteins and other biological processes. This emphasizes the need to develop criteria that distinguish transcriptional noise from transcription with a biological function.
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