Transcription - 复旦大学电子邮件.pptVIP

李 希 分子医学教育部重点实验室 lixi@shmu.edu.cn WHICH CAME FIRST, THE chicken or the egg? The biological silences have a variation: which came first, DNA or protein? You see, among the many tasks performed by proteins is assembling DNA molecules. But DNA contains the information needed to make proteins. So which came first? The synthesis of RNA molecules using DNA strands as the templates so that the genetic information can be transferred from DNA to RNA. Four stages: Initiation, Elongation, Termination, Post-transcriptional modification  Similarity between replication and transcription Both processes use DNA as the template. Phosphodiester bonds are formed in both cases. Both synthesis directions are from 5′ to 3′. The whole genome of DNA needs to be replicated, but only small portion of genome is transcribed in response to the development requirement, physiological need and environmental changes. DNA regions that can be transcribed into RNA are called structural genes. Three phases: initiation, elongation, and termination. The prokaryotic RNA-pol can bind to the DNA template directly in the transcription process. The eukaryotic RNA-pol requires co-factors to bind to the DNA template together in the transcription process. RNA pol b subunit is the target of rifamycin Termination The terminator is in the transcript, not the DNA Forms a hairpin Self-complementary The hairpin structure is the signal for termination Rho (ρ)-dependent vs. ρ-independent RNA polymerases in Eukaryotes RNA polymerase I transcribes rRNA RNA polymerase II transcribes hnRNA RNA polymerase III transcribes tRNA and other small RNAs. Animal RNA Polymerases Animal DNA-dependent RNA Polymerases Class α-amanitin sensitivity Major Products I Insensitive rRNA II Low Conc. (1-10 nM) hnRNA III High conc. tRNA, 5S RNA