Discovery will change the way researchers look at DNA transcription, scie...( udents found that when the precursor mo...)

Such rapid synthesis is believed to be essential for proper cellular function, Erie said. The discovery of this additional binding site, which we call an allosteric site, will dramatically change the view of how transcription is regulated in cells.

She and others had thought such a site might exist because transcription of large genes would be too slow otherwise, she said. In a sense, the site can be thought of as a way by which the molecule can ignore or bypass biochemical stoplights on a major highway.

Like many scientists elsewhere, Eries laboratory concentrates on bacteria because proteins are similar from one organism to the next, and what they learn in bacteria usually applies to other species.

Many cancers involve over-expression or improper expression of genes, and some are regulated at the level of transcription, she said. If we want to understand how these illnesses occur, then we have to understand the details of RNA polymerase, which people have been studying for 40 years. Knowing now that there are two binding sites on the enzyme instead of one will enable scientists to interpret data they collect much more accurately and create a truer picture of whats going on.

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Contact: David Williamson
david_williamson@unc.edu
919-962-8596
University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
26-Jul-2001