Transcription initiation by mix and match elements: flexibility for polymerase binding to bacterial promoters.

ABSTRACT: Bacterial RNA polymerase is composed of a core of subunits (beta, beta', alpha1, alpha2, omega), which have RNA synthesizing activity, and a specificity factor (sigma), which identifies the start of transcription by recognizing and binding to sequences elements within promoter DNA. Four core promoter consensus sequences, the -10 element, the extended -10 (TGn) element, the -35 element, and the UP elements, have been known for many years; the importance of a nontemplate G at position -5 has been recognized more recently. However, the functions of these elements are not the same. The AT-rich UP elements, the -35 elements ((-35)TTGACA(-30)), and the extended -10 ((-15)TGn(-13)) are recognized as double stranded binding elements, whereas the -5 nontemplate G is recognized in the context of sin

SUBMITTER: Hook-Barnard IG 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC2613000 | biostudies-literature | 2007

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature