Unraveling the start element and regulatory divergence of core promoters across the domain bacteria.

ABSTRACT: Core promoters comprise multiple elements whose interaction with RNA polymerase initiates transcription. Despite decades of research, substantial sequence and length variation of promoter elements has hindered efforts to elucidate their function and the evolutionary diversity of transcriptional regulation. Combining massively parallel assays, biophysical modeling, and functional validation, we systematically dissected the promoter architecture upstream of experimentally determined transcription start sites in 49 phylogenetically diverse bacterial genomes (GC content: 27.8%-72.1%). We identified a conserved 3-bp promoter element, termed "start," which dictates transcription start site selection and enhances transcription. We uncovered a four-region organization within the variable spacer el

SUBMITTER: Kuo ST 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12641261 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature