HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Free via Open Access: OA OA Free Full Text Full Text (PDF) Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Citing Articles via CrossRef Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Lewis, P. J. Articles by Clarke, J. Search for Related Content PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Lewis, P. J. Articles by Clarke, J. Agricola Articles by Lewis, P. J. Articles by Clarke, J.

Transcription factor dynamics

J. Clarke

School of Environmental and Life Sciences, University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW 2308, Australia

Correspondence
P. J. Lewis
Peter.Lewis{at}newcastle.edu.au

Gene expression is a fundamental process that is highly conserved from humans to bacteria. The first step in gene expression, transcription, is performed by structurally conserved DNA-dependent RNA polymerases (RNAPs), which results in the synthesis of an RNA molecule from a DNA template. In bacteria, a single species of RNAP is responsible for transcribing both stable RNA (i.e. t- and rRNA) and protein-encoding genes (i.e. mRNA), unlike eukaryotic systems, which use three distinct RNAP species to transcribe the different gene classes (RNAP I transcribes most rRNA, RNAP II transcribes mRNA, and RNAP III transcribes tRNA and 5S rRNA). The versatility of bacterial RNAP is dependent on both dynamic interactions with co-factors and the coding sequence of the template DNA, which allows RNAP to respond appropriately to the transcriptional needs of the cell. Although the majority of the research on gene expression has focused on the initiation stage, regulation of the elongation phase is essential for cell viability and represents an important topic for study. The elongation factors that associate with RNAP are unique and highly conserved among prokaryotes, making disruption of their interactions a potentially important target for antibiotic development. One of the most significant advances in molecular biology over the last decade has been the use of green fluorescent protein (GFP) and its spectral variants to observe the subcellular localization of proteins in live intact cells. This review discusses transcription dynamics with respect to RNAP and its associated transcription elongation factors in the two best-studied prokaryotes, Escherichia coli and Bacillus subtilis.

Present address: Flinders Microscopy and Image Analysis Facility, Department of Anatomy and Histology School of Medicine, Flinders University, GPO Box 2100, Adelaide 5001, Australia.

This article has been cited by other articles:

				G. A Reeves, D. Talavera, and J. M Thornton Genome and proteome annotation: organization, interpretation and integration J R Soc Interface, February 6, 2009; 6(31): 129 - 147. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]