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Molecular biology

Termination by torpedo

Nature volume 432, pages 456–457 (2004)Cite this article

The information encoded in our genes must be copied into messenger RNAs, which will programme the protein-synthesis machinery. New results support an intriguing mechanism for ending the copying process.

Genetic information is encoded in the sequence of the DNA double helix. To access this information, the DNA sequence must be copied, or ‘transcribed’, by enzymes known as RNA polymerases. The resulting messenger RNA (mRNA) molecules carry the genetic information to the protein-synthesizing machinery, where it is used to define the amino-acid sequence, and therefore the structure and function, of proteins. A lot is known about how transcription is started, but the mechanisms that stop the transcription of mRNA by RNA polymerase II are less well understood. Transcription termination is important, not least because stopping too late will disrupt the regulation of other genes on the same chromosome; stopping prematurely, meanwhile, would produce truncated and therefore defective mRNAs. So it initially seemed likely that there would be strictly defined ‘stop’ sequences. But termination on most genes has been found to occur at various positions rather than at a single site. Moreover, a discrete signal in the DNA that might define the termination site could not be identified.

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Figure 1: Transcription termination in yeast.
Figure 2: Transcription termination at the β-globin gene in human cells.

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  1. the Wellcome Trust Centre for Cell Biology, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh, EH9 3JR, UK

    David Tollervey

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  1. David Tollervey
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Tollervey, D. Termination by torpedo. Nature 432, 456–457 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/432456a

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