Genome complexity: RNA polymerases (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, October 24, 2013, 15:35 (3835 days ago) @ David Turell

"There are three different RNA polymerases, each of which makes specific types of RNA molecule. For example, RNA polymerase II makes messenger RNA ... the 'middle-man' that carries the information encoded in DNA to a ribosome where it can be used to make a protein. RNA polymerases I and III make parts of the machinery which reads that messenger RNA: I builds the RNA that will eventually form a ribosome, while III makes the transfer RNA that carries the protein building blocks to the ribosome for assembly. Scientists have known for over a decade what RNA polymerase II looks like and how it works, but obtaining detailed information on the structures of its counterparts has proven extremely difficult. Now that they have managed to do so for RNA polymerase I, Müller and colleagues have found explanations for some of the protein's particularities."- Read more at: http://phys.org/news/2013-10-bigger-faster-3d-reveals-protein.html#jCp