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Science 28 July 2000:
Vol. 289. no. 5479, pp. 619 - 625
DOI: 10.1126/science.289.5479.619
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Reports

A Structural Model of Transcription Elongation

Nataliya Korzheva,1 Arkady Mustaev,1 Maxim Kozlov,1 Arun Malhotra,2 Vadim Nikiforov,3 Alex Goldfarb,1 Seth A. Darst4*

The path of the nucleic acids through a transcription elongation complex was tracked by mapping cross-links between bacterial RNA polymerase (RNAP) and transcript RNA or template DNA onto the x-ray crystal structure. In the resulting model, the downstream duplex DNA is nestled in a trough formed by the beta ' subunit and enclosed on top by the beta  subunit. In the RNAP channel, the RNA/DNA hybrid extends from the enzyme active site, along a region of the beta  subunit harboring rifampicin resistance mutations, to the beta ' subunit "rudder." The single-stranded RNA is then extruded through another channel formed by the beta -subunit flap domain. The model provides insight into the functional properties of the transcription complex.

1 Public Health Research Institute, 455 First Avenue, New York, NY 10016, USA.
2 Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Miami School of Medicine, Miami, FL 33101, USA.
3 Institute of Molecular Genetics, Russian Academy of Sciences, Moscow, Russia.
4 Rockefeller University, 1230 York Avenue, New York, NY 10021, USA.
*   To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: darst{at}rockvax.rockefeller.edu

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