How cell's master transcribing machine achieves near perfection
Thursday, June 5, 2008 - 20:21
in Biology & Nature
One of the most critical processes in biology is the transcription of genetic information from DNA to messenger RNA (mRNA), which provides the blueprint for the proteins that form the machinery of life. Now, researchers have discovered new details of how the cell's major transcriptional machinery, RNA polymerase II (Pol II), functions with such exquisite precision. With almost unerring accuracy, Pol II can select the correct molecular puzzle piece, called a nucleosidetriphosphate (NTP), to add to the growing mRNA chain, although these puzzle pieces can be highly similar molecules.