The researchers used atomic force microscopy to show that one type of representative DNA-binding protein wraps DNA into a wheel shape, while another forms a loop. The same technique was used to follow the progress of RNA polymerase through these protein-induced DNA shapes. The results showed how RNA polymerase manages to negotiate the roadblocks formed by these proteins, regardless of protein-DNA binding affinity.
The insight into mechanisms of gene transcription represents a step toward understanding roles in diseases like cancer, and contributes to the design of synthetic regulatory circuits to control gene expression.
Co-authors of the study include post-doctoral fellows, Yue Lu and Zsuzsanna Voros, former Emory undergraduates Gustavo Borjas and Cristin Hendrickson, Emory senior scientist David Dunlap, and Professor Keith Shearwin from the University of Adelaide, Australia.
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Research roundup: Recent grants and publications for Emory faculty and staff