Evidence map›Paper›PMID 27025650›Full record

ArticleNucleic acids research2016

Nascent RNA length dictates opposing effects of NusA on antitermination.

Christopher D Wells, Padraig Deighan, MacKenzie Brigham, Ann Hochschild

Abstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Nucleic acids research, 2016. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 6 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
6citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

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.

2 · The registry

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.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

6 citing papers in PubMed.

  1. Article
  2. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2025
    Article
  3. Article
  4. Article
  5. Structural basis of Q-dependent antitermination.Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America · 2019
    Article
  6. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Christopher D WellsDepartment of Microbiology and Immunobiology, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Padraig DeighanDepartment of Microbiology and Immunobiology, Boston, MA 02115, USA Department of Biology, Emmanuel College, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
MacKenzie BrighamDepartment of Microbiology and Immunobiology, Boston, MA 02115, USA.
Ann HochschildDepartment of Microbiology and Immunobiology, Boston, MA 02115, USA ahochschild@hms.harvard.edu.

Funding

PROTEIN/PROTEIN INTERACTIONS IN PROKARYOTIC GENE CONTROLR01GM044025 · NIGMS · HARVARD UNIVERSITY (MEDICAL SCHOOL) · PI HOCHSCHILD, ANN · 1990 to 2015
$8.1M
NIGMS NIH HHS R01 GM044025
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

The NusA protein is a universally conserved bacterial transcription elongation factor that binds RNA polymerase (RNAP). When functioning independently, NusA enhances intrinsic termination. Paradoxically, NusA stimulates the function of the N and Q antiterminator proteins of bacteriophage λ. The mechanistic basis for NusA's functional plasticity is poorly understood. Here we uncover an effect of nascent RNA length on the ability of NusA to collaborate with Q. Ordinarily, Q engages RNAP during early elongation when it is paused at a specific site just downstream of the phage late-gene promoter. NusA facilitates this engagement process and both proteins remain associated with the transcription elongation complex (TEC) as it escapes the pause and transcribes the late genes. We show that the λ-related phage 82 Q protein (82Q) can also engage RNAP that is paused at a promoter-distal position and thus contains a nascent RNA longer than that associated with the natively positioned TEC. However, the effect of NusA in this context is antagonistic rather than stimulatory. Moreover, cleaving the long RNA associated with the promoter-distal TEC restores NusA's stimulatory effect. Our findings reveal a critical role for nascent RNA in modulating NusA's effect on 82Q-mediated antitermination, with implications for understanding NusA's functional plasticity.

Indexed as

Transcription Termination, GeneticBacterial ProteinsBinding, CompetitiveModels, BiologicalPromoter Regions, GeneticProtein BindingRNATranscriptional Elongation FactorsViral Regulatory and Accessory ProteinsBacterial ProteinsRNATranscriptional Elongation FactorsViral Regulatory and Accessory Proteins

Identifiers

PMID27025650
PMCPMC4914094

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

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.