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Gene transcription

Extending the message

Nature volume 448, pages 142–143 (2007)Cite this article

During transcription, RNA polymerase catalyses the addition of nucleotides to the growing RNA chain. High-resolution structural snapshots indicate that the polymerase first identifies its substrate, and then incorporates it.

Life is chemistry — well, at least it is to the molecular biologist. But chemical details remain unclear even for some of the fundamental cellular processes such as gene transcription. In two papers published on pages 157 and 163 of this issue, however, Vassylyev and colleagues1,2 provide detailed structural insights into the process of transcription and suggest a two-step mechanism for adding building blocks to a growing RNA chain.

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Figure 1: Two-step mechanism of RNA chain elongation during transcription.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, Patrick Cramer is at the Gene Center Munich, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München, Feodor-Lynen-Straße 25, 81377 München, Germany. cramer@lmb.uni-muenchen.de,

    Patrick Cramer

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Cramer, P. Extending the message. Nature 448, 142–143 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/448142a

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