Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT:
SUBMITTER: Hodges C
PROVIDER: S-EPMC2775800 | biostudies-literature | 2009 Jul
REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature
Hodges Courtney C Bintu Lacramioara L Lubkowska Lucyna L Kashlev Mikhail M Bustamante Carlos C
Science (New York, N.Y.) 20090701 5940
RNA polymerase II (Pol II) must overcome the barriers imposed by nucleosomes during transcription elongation. We have developed an optical tweezers assay to follow individual Pol II complexes as they transcribe nucleosomal DNA. Our results indicate that the nucleosome behaves as a fluctuating barrier that locally increases pause density, slows pause recovery, and reduces the apparent pause-free velocity of Pol II. The polymerase, rather than actively separating DNA from histones, functions inste ...[more]