RNA-dependent RNA polymerase

About: RNA-dependent RNA polymerase is a research topic. Over the lifetime, 13904 publications have been published within this topic receiving 767954 citations. The topic is also known as: RdRp & RNA replicase.

Human telomerase contains two cooperating telomerase RNA molecules.

Abstract: Telomerase uses a short stretch of its intrinsic RNA molecule as template for telomere repeat synthesis. Reverse transcription of the RNA template is catalyzed by the telomerase reverse transcriptase (TERT) protein subunit. We demonstrate that human telomerase reconstituted from recombinant TERT and telomerase RNA runs as a dimer on a gel filtration column and that it contains two telomerase RNA molecules. Significantly, a telomerase heterodimer reconstituted from wild-type and mutant telomerase RNA is barely active when compared with the wild-type homodimer. We conclude that the telomerase RNA templates in the active enzyme are interdependent and functionally cooperate with each other. We discuss models that may explain the biological and enzymatic roles of telomerase dimerization.

Conversion of the omega subunit of Escherichia coli RNA polymerase into a transcriptional activator or an activation target.

Abstract: Evidence obtained in both eukaryotes and prokaryotes indicates that arbitrary contacts between DNA-bound proteins and components of the transcriptional machinery can activate transcription. Here we demonstrate that the Escherichia coli omega protein, which copurifies with RNA polymerase, can function as a transcriptional activator when linked covalently to a DNA-binding protein. We show further that omega can function as an activation target when this covalent linkage is replaced by a pair of interacting polypeptides fused to the DNA-binding protein and to omega, respectively. Our findings imply that the omega protein is associated with RNA polymerase holoenzyme in vivo, and provide support for the hypothesis that contact between a DNA-bound protein and any component of E. coli RNA polymerase can activate transcription.

Structure and transcription of a human gene for H1 RNA, the RNA component of human RNase P

Abstract: The gene coding for H1 RNA, the RNA component of human RNase P, has been isolated and characterized from a human genomic DNA library. The sequence corresponding to the mature H1 RNA is almost identical to that previously identified using H1 RNA and a cDNA clone corresponding to it. The nucleotide sequence of the genomic clone contains an array of potential transcriptional control elements, some characteristic of transcription by RNA polymerase III and some characteristic of RNA polymerase II, as is also the case for U6 and certain other small stable RNAs. The transcription in vitro of the genomic clone shows that the gene is functional and is transcribed by RNA polymerase III. Southern hybridization analysis indicates that there is very likely only one copy of the gene for H1 RNA in the human genome.