ArticleBiophysical journal2011
Downstream DNA tension regulates the stability of the T7 RNA polymerase initiation complex.
Article in Biophysical journal, 2011. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 5 papers.
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Who cites it
5 citing papers in PubMed, 12 citations in OpenAlex.
- Heterogeneous template-dependent transcription dynamics of T7 RNAP revealed by single-molecule imaging.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025Article
- Life under tension: the relevance of force on biological polymers.Biophysics reports · 2024Article
- A rhythmically pulsing leaf-spring DNA-origami nanoengine that drives a passive follower.Nature nanotechnology · 2024Article
- How to switch the motor on: RNA polymerase initiation steps at the single-molecule level.Protein science : a publication of the Protein Society · 2017Review
- Watching single molecules in action.eLife · 2014Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
3 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
Gene transcription by the enzyme RNA polymerase is tightly regulated. In many cases, such as in the lac operon in Escherichia coli, this regulation is achieved through the action of protein factors on DNA. Because DNA is an elastic polymer, its response to enzymatic processing can lead to mechanical perturbations (e.g., linear stretching and supercoiling) that can affect the operation of other DNA processing complexes acting elsewhere on the same substrate molecule. Using an optical-tweezers assay, we measured the binding kinetics between single molecules of bacteriophage T7 RNA polymerase and DNA, as a function of tension. We found that increasing DNA tension under conditions that favor formation of the open complex results in destabilization of the preinitiation complex. Furthermore, with zero ribonucleotides present, when the closed complex is favored, we find reduced tension sensitivity, implying that it is predominantly the open complex that is sensitive. This result strongly supports the "scrunching" model for T7 transcription initiation, as the applied tension acts against the movement of the DNA into the scrunched state, and introduces linear DNA tension as a potential regulatory quantity for transcription initiation.
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Registered trials
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