Crowding-induced transcriptional bursts dictate polymerase and nucleosome density profiles along genes.

ABSTRACT: During eukaryotic transcription, RNA polymerase (RNAP) translocates along DNA molecules covered with nucleosomes and other DNA binding proteins. Though the interactions between a single nucleosome and RNAP are by now fairly well understood, this understanding has not been synthesized into a description of transcription on crowded genes, where multiple RNAP transcribe through nucleosomes while preserving the nucleosome coverage. We here take a deductive modeling approach to establish the consequences of RNAP-nucleosome interactions for transcription in crowded environments. We show that under physiologically crowded conditions, the interactions of RNAP with nucleosomes induce a strong kinetic attraction between RNAP molecules, causing them to self-organize into stable and moving pelotons. T

SUBMITTER: van den Berg AA 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC5737439 | biostudies-literature | 2017 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature