Structural basis for intrinsic transcription termination

Linlin You, Expery O. Omollo, Chengzhi Yu, Rachel A. Mooney, Jing Shi, Liqiang Shen, Xiaoxian Wu, Aijia Wen, Dingwei He, Yuan Zeng, Yu Feng (), Robert Landick () and Yu Zhang ()
Additional contact information
Linlin You: Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Expery O. Omollo: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Chengzhi Yu: Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Rachel A. Mooney: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Jing Shi: Zhejiang University School of Medicine
Liqiang Shen: Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Xiaoxian Wu: Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Aijia Wen: Zhejiang University School of Medicine
Dingwei He: Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yuan Zeng: Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences
Yu Feng: Zhejiang University School of Medicine
Robert Landick: University of Wisconsin-Madison
Yu Zhang: Key Laboratory of Synthetic Biology, CAS Center for Excellence in Molecular Plant Sciences, Shanghai Institute of Plant Physiology and Ecology, Chinese Academy of Sciences

Nature, 2023, vol. 613, issue 7945, 783-789

Abstract: Abstract Efficient and accurate termination is required for gene transcription in all living organisms1,2. Cellular RNA polymerases in both bacteria and eukaryotes can terminate their transcription through a factor-independent termination pathway3,4—called intrinsic termination transcription in bacteria—in which RNA polymerase recognizes terminator sequences, stops nucleotide addition and releases nascent RNA spontaneously. Here we report a set of single-particle cryo-electron microscopy structures of Escherichia coli transcription intrinsic termination complexes representing key intermediate states of the event. The structures show how RNA polymerase pauses at terminator sequences, how the terminator RNA hairpin folds inside RNA polymerase, and how RNA polymerase rewinds the transcription bubble to release RNA and then DNA. These macromolecular snapshots define a structural mechanism for bacterial intrinsic termination and a pathway for RNA release and DNA collapse that is relevant for factor-independent termination by all RNA polymerases.

Date: 2023
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DOI: 10.1038/s41586-022-05604-1

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