Protein structure terminates doubt about how transcription stops

Rashid, Fahad; Berger, James

doi:10.1038/d41586-023-00121-1

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25 January 2023

Protein structure terminates doubt about how transcription stops

High-resolution structures of the bacterial Rho protein in complex with an RNA polymerase enzyme and partner proteins provide support for the long-held model of how Rho helps to terminate gene transcription.

Fahad Rashid⁰ &
James Berger¹

Fahad Rashid
1. Fahad Rashid is in the School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA.
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James Berger
1. James Berger is in the School of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland 21205, USA.
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Over time, scientific concepts in textbooks can get enshrined into dogma. Occasionally, however, these assumptions are shaken up when new data arise that challenge those cherished models. In 2020, two cryo-electron microscopy studies¹^,² called into question long-standing assumptions about a key facet of bacterial gene regulation known as transcription termination. Now, writing in Nature, Molodtsov et al.³ describe structures that restore the classical framework. Their results are an elegant demonstration that science sometimes needs to lurch sideways before it can move forwards.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00121-1

References

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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[1] Said, N. et al. Science 371, eabd1673 (2021).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[2] Hao, Z. et al. Mol. Cell 81, 281–292 (2021).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[3] Molodtsov, V., Wang, C., Firlar, E., Kaelber, J. T. & Ebright, R. H. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-022-05658-1 (2023).
Article Google Scholar

[4] Roberts, J. W. Nature 224, 1168–1174 (1969).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[5] Peters, J. M. et al. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 106, 15406–15411 (2009).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[6] Richardson, J. P. J. Biol. Chem. 257, 5760–5766 (1982).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[7] Miwa, Y., Horiguchi, T. & Shigesada, K. J. Mol. Biol. 254, 815–837 (1995).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[8] Opperman, T. & Richardson. J. P. J. Bacteriol. 176, 5033–5043 (1994).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[9] Lowery-Goldhammer, C. & Richardson, J. P. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 71, 2003–2007 (1974).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[10] Brennan, C. A., Dombroski, A. J. & Platt, T. Cell 48, 945–952 (1987).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[11] Stitt, B. L. & Xu, Y. J. Biol. Chem. 273, 26477–26486 (1998).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[12] Adelman, J. L. et al. Mol. Cell 22, 611–621 (2006).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[13] Thomsen, N. D. & Berger, J. M. Cell 139, 523–534 (2009).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[14] Park, J.-S. & Roberts, J. W. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 103, 4870–4875 (2006).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[15] Peters, J. M. et al. Genes Dev. 26, 2621–2633 (2012).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[16] Lawson, M. R. et al. Mol. Cell 71, 911–922 (2018).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[17] Mitra, P., Ghosh, G., Hafeezunnisa, M. & Sen, R. Annu. Rev. Microbiol. 71, 687–709 (2017).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[18] Ray-Soni, A., Bellecourt, M. J. & Landick, R. Annu. Rev. Biochem. 85, 319–347 (2016).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[19] Collinson, I. R., Skehel, J. M., Fearnley, I. M., Runswick, M. J. & Walker, J. E. Biochemistry 35, 12640–12646 (1996).
Article PubMed Google Scholar

[20] Murayama, Y. et al. Preprint at bioRxiv https://doi.org/10.1101/2022.09.02.506315 (2022).

Protein structure terminates doubt about how transcription stops

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