ArticleThe EMBO journal2009
Functional specialization of transcription elongation factors.
Article in The EMBO journal, 2009. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 78 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
78 citing papers in PubMed, 122 citations in OpenAlex.
- RfaH licenses RNA polymerase for long-range transcription.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Structural basis of long-range transcription-translation coupling.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2026Article
- Selective targeting of a histone-like silencer Sfx to the R6K conjugal transfer operon.Nucleic acids research · 2026Article
- Exploration of the structural and functional diversity in the metamorphic RfaH subfamily.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Selective targeting of a histone-like silencer Sfx to the R6K conjugal transfer operon.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Article
- NusG-Spt5 Transcription Factors: Universal, Dynamic Modulators of Gene Expression.Journal of molecular biology · 2025Review
- Metamorphic proteins and how to find them.Current opinion in structural biology · 2024Review
- Concerted transformation of a hyper-paused transcription complex and its reinforcing protein.Nature communications · 2024Article
- Exploring the structural acrobatics of fold-switching proteins using simplified structure-based models.Biophysical reviews · 2023Review
- Allosteric mechanism of transcription inhibition by NusG-dependent pausing of RNA polymerase.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2023Article
- Article
- Putative transcription antiterminator RfaH contributes to Erwinia amylovora virulence.Molecular plant pathology · 2022Article
- Article
- RfaH May Oppose Silencing by H-NS and YmoA Proteins during Transcription Elongation.Journal of bacteriology · 2022Article
- Metamorphic proteins under a computational microscope: Lessons from a fold-switching RfaH protein.Computational and structural biotechnology journal · 2022Review
- The N-terminal domain of RfaH plays an active role in protein fold-switching.PLoS computational biology · 2021Article
- Macromolecular assemblies supporting transcription-translation coupling.Transcription · 2021Review
- Metamorphic proteins: the Janus proteins of structural biology.Open biology · 2021Article
- Article
18 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Elongation factors NusG and RfaH evolved from a common ancestor and utilize the same binding site on RNA polymerase (RNAP) to modulate transcription. However, although NusG associates with RNAP transcribing most Escherichia coli genes, RfaH regulates just a few operons containing ops, a DNA sequence that mediates RfaH recruitment. Here, we describe the mechanism by which this specificity is maintained. We observe that RfaH action is indeed restricted to those several operons that are devoid of NusG in vivo. We also show that RfaH and NusG compete for their effects on transcript elongation and termination in vitro. Our data argue that RfaH recognizes its DNA target even in the presence of NusG. Once recruited, RfaH remains stably associated with RNAP, thereby precluding NusG binding. We envision a pathway by which a specialized regulator has evolved in the background of its ubiquitous paralogue. We propose that RfaH and NusG may have opposite regulatory functions: although NusG appears to function in concert with Rho, RfaH inhibits Rho action and activates the expression of poorly translated, frequently foreign genes.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.