RNA polymerase collisions and their role in transcription

ABSTRACT

RNA polymerases are the central enzymes of gene expression and function frequently in either a head-on or co-directional manner on the busy DNA track. Whether and how these collisions between RNA polymerases contribute to transcriptional regulation is mysterious. Increasing evidence from biochemical and single-molecule studies suggests that RNA polymerase collisions function as an important regulator to fine-tune transcription, rather than creating deleterious “traffic jams”. This review summarizes the recent progress on elucidating the consequences of RNA polymerase collisions during transcription and highlights the significance of cooperation and coordination between RNA polymerases.

KEYWORDS:

• RNA polymerase
• co-directional collision
• head-on collision
• elongation blocks
• transcription termination
• DNA supercoiling

Acknowledgments

I thank Shixin Liu and Gabriella Chua from his lab at The Rockefeller University for critical reading of the manuscript. I acknowledge the support from Southern University of Science and Technology startup funding (grant numbers: Y011176101/Y011176201).

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Funding

The author(s) reported there is no funding associated with the work featured in this article.