News and Views


Nature Structural & Molecular Biology 14, 686 - 687 (2007)
doi:10.1038/nsmb0807-686

Finding the right spot to start transcription

Patrick Cramer1

  1. Patrick Cramer is at the Gene Center Munich and the Center for Integrated Protein Science (CiPSM), Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Feodor-Lynen-Strasse 25, 81377 Munich, Germany. e-mail: cramer@lmb.uni-muenchen.de


How does RNA polymerase II cooperate with initiation factors to locate transcription start sites throughout the genome? A new cross-linking approach reveals previously unknown initiation factor–binding sites on the polymerase surface. The resulting model of the transcription initiation complex suggests that initiation factors cooperate above and inside the polymerase active center cleft to open DNA and find the transcription start site.

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