Transcription Elongation in E. coli
| Prokaryotic Transcription | Table of Contents |
The process of transcription elongation is fairly straightforward. The sigma subunit has been released and the Core moves along the template synthesizing an RNA strand in the 5' to 3' direction (meaning that it is moving along the template in a 3' to 5' direction; remember, however, that direction is specified by the coding strand, not the template strand). The double-stranded molecule is unwound at the front of the RNA polymerase to open the template and it is rewound behind the polymerase. This means that there is a small "transcription bubble" where the DNA is temporarily single-stranded. The RNA strand is hydrogen bonded to the DNA template strand over a short stretch of about 8 nucleotides. As the polymerase moves along the RNA molecule is left exposed behind it.
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| Prokaryotic Transcription | Table of Contents |