Bacterial Genetics: Lecture # 05: Transcription
Bacterial Genetics: Lecture # 05: Transcription
Bacterial Genetics: Lecture # 05: Transcription
• All cellular RNAs are synthesized from DNA templates through the
process of transcription.
• In replication, all the nucleotides in the DNA molecule are copied, but
in transcription, only parts of the DNA molecule are transcribed into
RNA.
• Because not all gene products are needed at the same time or in the
same cell, the constant transcription of all of a cell’s genes would be
highly inefficient.
Introduction (contd.)
• 1. A DNA template
• The transcription of each gene begins at the top of the tree; there,
little of the DNA has been transcribed, and the RNA branches are
short.
• The template for RNA synthesis, as for DNA synthesis, is a single strand of
the DNA double helix.
• The nucleotide strand used for transcription is termed the template strand.
The Template (contd.)
• In most organisms, each gene is transcribed from a single DNA strand, but
different genes may be transcribed from different strands.
• TRANSCRIPTION UNIT:
• When DNA sequences are written out, often the sequence of only
one of the two strands is listed.
The Template (contd.)
• Molecular biologists typically write the sequence of the non-template
strand because it will be the same as the sequence of the RNA
transcribed from the template strand (with the exception that U in
RNA replaces T in DNA).
• Nucleotides are always added to the 3′ end of the RNA molecule, and
the direction of transcription is therefore 5′→3′.
• The core enzyme catalyzes the elongation of the RNA molecule by the
addition of RNA nucleotides.
The Transcription Apparatus (contd.)
• Other functional subunits join and leave the core enzyme at particular
stages of the transcription process.
• The sigma (σ) factor controls the binding of RNA polymerase to the
promoter.
• Sigma is required only for promoter binding and initiation; after a few
RNA nucleotides have been joined together, sigma usually detaches
from the core enzyme.
The Transcription Apparatus (contd.)