Cryo-EM Studies of Genome Organization and Transcription Complexes

TL;DR

This paper discusses how cryo-EM studies reveal how RNA polymerase II and genome organization influence gene expression.

Contribution

The paper presents new cryo-EM insights into how transcription elongation factors and genome organization regulate RNA polymerase II activity.

Findings

Cryo-EM reveals how transcription elongation factors regulate RNA polymerase II activity.

Genome organization at multiple levels influences gene expression regulation.

Abstract

RNA polymerase (Pol) II is regulated during all stages of transcription to ensure appropriate gene expression. This regulation involves interaction with various factors that modulate Pol II activity as it traverses across genes. I will discuss recent cryo-electron microscopy(EM) work that has uncovered how Pol II is both negatively and positively regulated by transcription elongation factors. Pol II activity is also influenced by the organization of the genome. Genome organisation is regulated at multiple levels ranging from the underlying DNA sequence to large scale interactions between chromosomes. Our recent efforts to understand how these multiple levels of genome organisation are used to regulate gene expression will be discussed.